Robin Silbergleid: “I’ve identified as a feminist since I was about eighteen and read Chris Weedon’s Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory as an undergrad. My poetry often addresses subjects of gender, alternative families, the female body, and reproduction. I’ve had the occasion recently to read my work to and host workshops for other women who have struggled with infertility and pregnancy loss, which, at its best, feels like a powerful, woman-centered and feminist connection. Although these poems aren’t the best illustration of this principle, I see much of my work as an instance of feminist activism.” (website)
“An Open Letter to Our Sperm Donor” by Robin SilbergleidPosted by Rattle
Robin Silbergleid
AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR SPERM DONOR
Our daughter looks like me
people say, the architecture
of her eyebrows and pointed stare.
But in the photograph of you
at thirteen months: our baby’s
toothless grin after she’s grabbed
the cat by the tail. Every child
you said needs a mother who reads
and each night I let her suck
thick cardboard illustrations, Big Red Barn and Goodnight Moon,
while I balance her on my lap.
If you lived with us, you
would know this. Perhaps
you would bring me a cup of tea
while I nurse her on the couch,
a book of poems open nearby.
Sometimes I wonder if you wonder
about us, when you’re at work
in the laboratory or when
you’re feeding your new son a bottle.
The stories of our children
are woven together. The tapestry
couldn’t be more beautiful, filled
with these widening holes.
Robin Silbergleid: “I live in East Lansing, Michigan, where I write, teach, and raise my two children. This poem comes from my manuscript The Baby Book, which deals with infertility treatment and becoming a single mother by choice.”