by Kevin Browne
There is a light kept on in a vase outside my neighbor’s house. It covers the spot where the family has buried the wife’s placenta just after she gave birth. Many people here believe that every person when they are born is accompanied by four spiritual siblings, symbolized by the amniotic fluid, blood, the placenta, and umbilical cord. It is the placenta that is said to provide the spiritual tie to the child. These ethereal siblings are believed to protect the child throughout its early years, and through life at times of need. They also gather along with the person’s soul just before the time of physical death, and all five proceed together into that transition.
Kevin Browne‘s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Book of Matches, Otoliths, The Metaworker, Kelp Journal, and other publications. He formerly lived in Indonesia and currently resides near Madison, Wisconsin.
A-minor 