Newborns

Newborns are full of contradictions. Grotesque, peeling, bruised and jaundiced flesh covers each tiny, precious body. Writhing, wrinkly, and ridiculously proportioned, the neonate inhabits an odd time before the cuteness of babyhood. He appears to be an alien amalgam incorporating elements of the human fetus, the gawky adolescent, and the frail elderly, yet we adults are wired to find him appealing. The newborn seems far too odd to be one of us, but it is the way we all began.