Grandmothering, a theory
by Lara Payne
Studies show grandmothers help humans live longer
and bear more children. This may be why women usually outlive men.
Those bleary first days of mothering, when the hours blurred
I fell asleep wishing I was a whale. And my baby, now a whale
would swim to me and nurse easily. We were as weightless
as the ocean allows. Ease I longed for, though I woke to cracked nipples,
thrush, mastitis and an always hungry baby. I’d dream I was magic
and my breastmilk cured my friend’s cancer that first lodged
in his throat. I never told him about those dreams
but now that he has died, he might know.
Recent studies have found that only a few other animals
live well past menopause, four types of whales, specifically.
We women, wild and wiry, possibly living 40 or 50 years past
our own childbearing, are not unique. In the oceans, all around us
those post-menopausal whales swim with their daughters and grandchildren.
Our genes continue, proven and seen. We complete
the promise of our fertility by ending it. Ladder and whirl
generations nurtured.
Blue green light
and a carrying
with the promise
& hope
of a lighter load.
and bear more children. This may be why women usually outlive men.
Those bleary first days of mothering, when the hours blurred
I fell asleep wishing I was a whale. And my baby, now a whale
would swim to me and nurse easily. We were as weightless
as the ocean allows. Ease I longed for, though I woke to cracked nipples,
thrush, mastitis and an always hungry baby. I’d dream I was magic
and my breastmilk cured my friend’s cancer that first lodged
in his throat. I never told him about those dreams
but now that he has died, he might know.
Recent studies have found that only a few other animals
live well past menopause, four types of whales, specifically.
We women, wild and wiry, possibly living 40 or 50 years past
our own childbearing, are not unique. In the oceans, all around us
those post-menopausal whales swim with their daughters and grandchildren.
Our genes continue, proven and seen. We complete
the promise of our fertility by ending it. Ladder and whirl
generations nurtured.
Blue green light
and a carrying
with the promise
& hope
of a lighter load.

Lara Payne lives in Maryland. Once an archeologist, she now teaches writing at the college level, to veterans, and to small children. Her poem “Corn Stand, 10 ears for two dollars” was a winner in the Moving Words Competition and was placed on buses in Arlington, VA. Recent poems have appeared in the Delmarva Review and online with SWWIM Daily.