Kim Whysall-Hammond

We learnt that sleep is negotiable
but the siren wail of a newborn is not

We learnt that there is no replacement
no salve for grief, just life lived on

But that there is salvation in a gurgle
hope in a well soiled nappy

Wonder in breastfeeding
joy in Dad’s skinwarmed bottle

Glory in so-soon brown eyes
in double creased fat thighs

In watching them grow
up and away

In saying goodbye
whatever the age

Kim Whysall-Hammond is a Londoner who now lives in the English countryside. She worked in climate research and the technical side of telecommunications and is a geek—except she forgets a lot. Her poetry has appeared in Black Nore Review, Dreich, Littoral, and The Martello, as well as magazines in the US and Canada. She also has poems in anthologies from Arachne Press, Brigids Gate Press, Milk and Cake Press, and Palewell Press. She won third prize in the 2023 Dwarf Star Speculative Poetry Award. Her debut
pamphlet, Messages from the Road, was published by Palewell Press in autumn 2024.

This poem appeared in What We Hold On To: Poems of Coping, Connection, and Carrying On — Winter 2026, published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project. We’ll be featuring each poem from the collection individually in the weeks ahead. You can read the full collection or download a free PDF of the chapbook here.