in-utero, ex-utero (poem)
on endometriosis and empathy
in-utero, ex-utero
when the blood pours out, soaking through every layer, and you are hinged at the hip not by choice, tell me again about being humbled, tell me again about drawing attention to yourself. when you are 38 000 feet up in the wind and your vision starts to blur, alone and laboring and painfully unpregnant, tell me again about ginger ale for the nausea, tell me again about those extra strength naproxen i threw up into a YVR bathroom. when you have to ask the stewardess for a bag of ice to keep you conscious, and she doesn’t know yet she’s going to be calling a medic to escort you off the plane, tell me again about walking it off, tell me again about not letting my pain make others uncomfortable. when 3 older women you will never meet again dump out their purses to offer you their own pads and medications, afraid to see this grown baby go limp under a lit up call bell, tell me again about motherhood, tell me again about the rules you so naively think that my body believes in.
♡ Hal