kore 1

twice bad, twice wrong: to hurt someone & to enjoy it.

there once was an alpine mountain & a sea loch who wanted a baby & so they came together in a rush & tumult & to them a baby was born. she came blue-faced at deep midwinter & as the loch’s waters bore her forth the seals barked on their rocky perches & the sun broke through the horizon. the ocean below the hills glittered with the bright. at first she was silent & then she screamed at the cold, the overwhelming touch of the world on all her sense organs, the outrage of it all.

kore came out blue with the cord wrapped around her throat & the midwife gave her mom an oxygen mask as she held the baby to her breast, left the umbilical cord uncut til after the placenta was birthed. the baby’s parents were delighted by her arrival & for a time, all was blissful at home.

in those times, an oppressive olichargy ruled the lands & parents had to do all kinds of other work away from their children––otherwise they would starve & die.