afterthought
so this is what i've become
the product of my own
inability
to regulate my body
this vessel is not able
i've seen better days
thirty
maybe more
since my uterus
allowed my heart
to bleed
i lie stretched wide open
while you spend four days
thinking
it's been forty days now
are you at peace
with your thoughts?
i am
not sorry either
i can grit my teeth
longer and harder
while you make babies
i clench my fists
four days and thirty
dollars later
i feel like a whore
and i'm still not bleeding
three months ago
i readjusted my uterus
now i lie stretched
wide open
but my eyes are closed
as this fetus is ripped
from my body
i spent four minutes
deciding
in your haste
i did not shed one tear
while you reappraised
your carnal knowledge
i spread my legs
for liberty
not in some back alley
with a wire hook
but on a cold table
just like the one
seven years ago
only this time
i didn't push
i let them suck
your image
right out of me
seven years ago
i gave birth
to venus
and today
i slayed her sister
Copyright © 2002 by Shannon Gleeson