{"id":789,"date":"2025-05-28T17:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T17:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msbrazelton.wpenginepowered.com\/?page_id=789"},"modified":"2026-06-02T19:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:26:10","slug":"for-the-new-baby","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brazeltoninstitute.childrenshospital.org\/es\/nbi-community\/poetry-and-practice\/for-the-new-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"For the New Baby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflection by Jennifer Harrison<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been writing poem-for-poem responses to the New Collected Poems of the recently deceased Irish poet Eavan Boland (1944-2020). This poem was written in response to \u2018Lullaby\u2019 from an early book of hers, New Territory (1967). I consider these poems to be \u2018after-echoes\u2019 of the Boland ones. Of course, the poem is also about me: how I became a grandmother for the first time during the COVID lockdown in Melbourne in 2020. I found great tenderness and wonder in meeting my grandson eventually after lockdown and I have delighted in his growing attachment to me. I find myself watching his development more closely than I have ever noticed before, either at work as a child psychiatrist or within family. I\u2019ve fallen in love with him, perhaps as only a grandmother can. Pristine we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the New Baby<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

after Eavan Boland\u2019s \u2018Lullaby\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jennifer Harrison<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Person now becoming. Already here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Named. Arriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How truthfully you peer at nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All is sensation, what comes to your lips,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

what holds your skin. How being<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is a song, already sung, but now<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you are listening for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your slightness reaches for the future,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

undemanding of future\u2019s leanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you push my arms away, the protest<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of self, how you have placed your presence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in the world of meaning. And now<\/p>\n\n\n\n

your older arms reach for me<\/p>\n\n\n\n

accepting me as safe. Not sage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no room in what we have<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for experience or wisdom. All is new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Untrodden. Trodden before<\/p>\n\n\n\n

on snow or sand, but earlier traces<\/p>\n\n\n\n

obliterated by new snows, new tides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are our new words. Pristine we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together. A moment here and there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All my life means this. And yet it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beauty of beginning. The fear<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must hold inside \u2013 that such beauty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is vulnerable and not mine <\/p>\n\n\n\n

but should be granted all the fields of corn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Dr. Jennifer Harrison has published eight poetry collections and co-edited three anthologies of Australian poetry including Motherlode<\/em>, Australian Women\u2019s Poetry 1986-2008<\/em> (Puncher & Wattmann 2009). She has received many awards including the Anne Elder Poetry Award, the NSW Women Writers Prize and the Martha Richardson Poetry Medal. Her most recent book Anywhy<\/em> was published by Black Pepper, Melbourne (2018). In 2020, she co-edited Australian Poetry Journal Volume 9, Issue 2, DIS\u2014,<\/em> an anthology of Australian poetry reflecting experience of disability.  Jennifer was honoured with the 2012 Christopher Brennan Award for sustained achievement in Australian poetry.  Jennifer is a neurodevelopmental child psychiatrist working at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. She holds honorary fellowships at Monash University, University of Melbourne, and the Dax Centre. In 2011 she founded and continues to manage The Dax Poetry Collection at The Dax Centre, which is situated at University of Melbourne and houses the national collection of art created by people who have experience of mental illness or psychological trauma. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reflection by Jennifer Harrison I\u2019ve been writing poem-for-poem responses to the New Collected Poems of the recently deceased Irish poet …Read More<\/b><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":87,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-789","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFor the New Baby - Brazelton Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/brazeltoninstitute.childrenshospital.org\/es\/nbi-community\/poetry-and-practice\/for-the-new-baby\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For the New Baby - Brazelton Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reflection by Jennifer Harrison I\u2019ve been writing poem-for-poem responses to the New Collected Poems of the recently deceased Irish poet ...Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/brazeltoninstitute.childrenshospital.org\/es\/nbi-community\/poetry-and-practice\/for-the-new-baby\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brazelton Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T19:26:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/brazeltoninstitute.childrenshospital.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2785B55D.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brazeltoninstitute.childrenshospital.org\\\/nbi-community\\\/poetry-and-practice\\\/for-the-new-baby\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brazeltoninstitute.childrenshospital.org\\\/nbi-community\\\/poetry-and-practice\\\/for-the-new-baby\\\/\",\"name\":\"For the New Baby - 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