My father’s wife bore him four daughters
one after
another though she
hoped otherwise,
hewn to
the mantle of my father’s

father, who
feared four names would
exterminate his family tree and
stripped her jaded hands, trading

six sheep to
soften the deal
for the son of
another: Xiao Xiong meaning

mighty and a
homonym for bear — Oh
it must have been mighty

funny when the fifth was born, a boy
though those who judged the bloat
of his incubator
shook their heads: too big
when my mother

shrouded him in
silken relief

the rusted womb
retiring, my own fitted and oiled

water broken
water spilled.