Poem of the Week | September 25, 2017

Emily Schulten: “Born Under the Veil”
We are proud to offer a new poem by Emily Schulten. Schulten is the author of Rest in Black Haw (New Plains Press). Her poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Barrow Street, Mid-American Review, New Ohio Review, and others. She lives in Key West, where she is a professor of English and creative writing at The College of the Florida Keys.
Born Under the Veil
for Zaza
Author’s Note:
When I met my friends’ infant daughter for the first time, I was struck by her gaze – pensive and steady, knowing. When I mentioned this to her father, Hanrow, he explained it’s because she was born with the caul. Furthermore, this was a birthright, as Hanrow’s aunt had also been born with the caul. His aunt had, he told me, been there in the room when the baby was born, he was certain, and when he saw Zaza had the caul, too, he knew he’d been right about his aunt’s presence.
I’d never heard of the phenomenon, the caul. It’s rare. It is when the baby is born with the amniotic membrane wrapping her head, translated from the Latin for helmeted head. This has long been thought of as a sign of luck and unique abilities. Years ago, sailors purchased and prized these cauls and carried them around as talismans, as they were said to prevent drowning. Some say the child born this way will be psychic. Some say the child born this way will be protected from spirits. Some say the child born this way will promise fruitful harvests.
I held onto the story. I’m drawn to folklore, particularly when I come by it from a personal account. I became fascinated by the contradiction of emerging into the light and being unable to see, by the idea of this second sight bestowed on a child born, for all intents and purposes, blind. There is also the element of how families pass things down, how tradition can shift shape but remain intact, how sometimes it cannot be escaped.
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