Mütter Museum
Each jar contains a teratistic
child
preserved in situ. Skin, embalmer's gray,
looks curdled through the glass,
like porous clay,
or maybe re-formed wax. They all
are filed
according to defect. Each bottle
styled
to emphasize deformities &
play
on sensibilities. In this display,
formaldehyde protects what birth
defiled.
One floating baby seems to nod in
sleep;
a third hand oddly growing from
its chest
drifts like anemones in tidal
sweep.
Small fingers, tiny starfish, come
to rest
against the glass. Against my
heart, I keep
on looking, mesmerized, obscenely
blessed.
(Znine)