Does one begin at birth

 

from “Second Life: Autobiography”

i.

Does one begin at birth or
must you walk further back
for the origin of your story?

Backwards to Bloemfontein
and further into October into
the lavalamplike womb
then deeper in and farther back
to the cardboard box in front of my parents’
bed where Ben (the tame lamb) sleeps.

Backwards from the pulpit out the church-
door to their first exchange of words
backwards in two directions to respective
first breaths to two wombs
exponentially further backwards
into eternity?

Or does a person simply start
with a photostat
of a birth certificate?

     — Bibi Slippers