"Star Power" - A Poem by Tara Meyer Dull

Someday I want to tell you about the day anger walked through the door.

Stormy steps, jaw clenched. It was the fuel she needed to show up. To sit in this orange vinyl booth with a small stack of papers with words like final and irrevocable. "Do you know what irrevocable means?" I have to ask, her social worker said. "Yes," Steely replied, "it means I can never, ever change my mind."

Bravery grips the page with trembling hands, wet eyes tracking every word as her social worker continues to read aloud, as the law requires. Blue pen waits next to her untouched glass of iced tea.

Are you ready?

Sorrow picks up the pen, inhales sharply with her quivering body. A waitress appears, unaware of the holy moment before her. "Can I get you anything else?"

"Yes," agony replies silently, "you can tell me if I will regret this moment for the rest of my life. You can tell me this baby will be abundantly held, fed, clothed, comforted, protected, nurtured, adored. You can tell me this child will forever know how ferociously I love him."

Wild shooting star, the universe cradles you now. Suspended between two worlds, branches of two family trees both clutch you, both claim you, both name you.

10:53 am. Hope scribes her name on the page.

Grief’s teardrop smears the ink.

Some day I hope she can tell you. But if that day never comes, may you know all the Mighty Women who showed up that day, Who held the pen, who hold you still.

Beloved. 

- Poem by Tara Meyer Dull: "I am an adoption social worker and wrote this poem in honor of all the courageous birth mothers I've met over the years. This poem is a composite of many women, and the wide range of emotions they carry with them at the moment of consent signing. So much brave love in that moment."