Animal

Original Painting

Acrylic painting on canvas,

130 × 180 cm | 50 × 70 inches

2025

Postpartum Month 6: Animal

Someone else holds my baby,

And an alarm goes off in my brain

“danger, danger!”

An overwhelming feeling of the need to protect

Sets my entire body on fire

My mind goes wild with thoughts of

The worst possible outcome

What if they drop him? What if they hurt him?

My hands and feet get ready to jump in defense

My skin grows hot, red covers my eyes

These primal feelings of protection increase

And I have no control

Sometimes I feel crazy for the thoughts

That come into my mind, the constant replaying of what I will do

If any harm were to come to him

A human mother is no different

Than every mother in the animal world

Ready to do anything to protect her young

By any means necessary!

And the worst is knowing I have no choice but to accept

That he will grow up

And I won’t be able to protect him from every threat

In this chaotic world