Sorting by

×
Skip to main content

baby girl Gilmartin, b. Feb. 2, 1970, d. Feb. 2, 1970
after Sean Thomas Dougherty

there is a space
in the universe
where you
do not exist:
the breath
you never took,
the eyes
that did not open,
my two thin arms
with nothing
to hold,
the empty crib,
there is a wound
in the exact shape
of my heart.

Barbara Crooker

Barbara Crooker

Barbara Crooker's work has appeared in a variety of journals, including The Christian Century, Christianity & Literature, The Christian Science Monitor, America, and Sojourners, among others. It’s been anthologized in places like The Bedford Introduction to Literature (Bedford/St. Martin’s), Imago Dei: Poems from Christianity and Literature (Abilene Christian University Press), Looking for God in All the Right Places (Loyola Press), and Summer: A Spiritual Biography of the Season and Spring: A Spiritual Biography of the Season (SkyLights Paths Publishers). She is the author of nine books of poetry; Some Glad Morning, Pitt Poetry Series (University of Pittsburgh Poetry Press), is the latest.

4 Comments

  • Annie Valkema says:

    It is possible to have no words but to also say thank you for this poem.

  • James Schippers says:

    A number of years ago I read an article in Christianity Today. It was titled “2 minutes to Eternity”
    A parent was questioning why God created & formed his child who lived for only 2 minutes after birth. The article ended stating that God didn’t create the little baby to live for only 2 minutes, HE created that little child for eternity. Just like He created us for eternity, where we may be surprised to find our true calling, which often seemed out of reach here on earth. The reason for our birth may not necessarily be for anything we accomplish here on earth, but in the role we are to fulfill forever.
    James Schippers

  • Thomas J Bartha says:

    50+ years after writing…and this will still touch hearts decades from now. Thank you.

  • You have given words to pain and loss that is larger than expression itself. Thank you so much for speaking into existence the reality of such heartbreak – and thus lessening its isolation.