A poem about childbirth through a father's eyes

Joseph by UK poet Michael Woods is at the hub of Tuesday Poem this week. The narrator is a father observing childbirth and talking to his future son. Here's a smaple

You were an astronaut to my eye,
space-walking from the mother ship

but blood-roped still ...

UK poet and biographer Kathleen Jones who posted the poem says: 

'I've just been reading  Absence Notes - the first collection from Michael Woods - and this poem really stood out.  It's a beautiful poem about the birth of a child from the father's point of view rather than the mother's, and that's what makes it unusual. We don't often hear about birth from a man's perspective - aren't often reminded that bonding is just important for them as it is for the mother.   I like the images and metaphors, 'blood-roped'  - the womb astronaut.'

Yet another provocative poem from Tuesday Poem and well worth a look. In the sidebar of the international NZ-based blog, there are 30 poets who post poems they've written or poems by others they admire. They include TP curator, Mary McCallum who posts the newly-announced winner of the NZ Society of Authors Award for Best First Book of Poetry, John Adams' Briefcase. You can also find Sarah Jane Barnett's first published poem, a riddle poem complete with prize by US expatriate poet Zireaux, and a range of other poems to tempt the tastebuds. Check it out.