Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered
In 1991, Demi Moore appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair seven months pregnant and completely nude. In this photograph, taken by Annie Leibovitz, Moore stands with one hand splayed over her breast, the other cradled under the mound of her large, round belly. Her skin, hair and makeup glow. Read more
I take the Plan B at 8am sharp in the Walgreens’ parking lot. He says he’ll split the cost with me, but we never talk again. I blink, and I’m 15, ravenous, researching male species. The toll to impregnate their mate. Of course he drowns his Anas Read more
The 8-week appointment couldn’t be scheduled at eight weeks because of Thanksgiving. Instead, I was asked to come in the following week, a few days shy of my 35th birthday. I remembered a friend going to the doctor for a pregnancy confirmation a few months earlier and asked her how Read more
Ghost imprint in the wall holds a hand shape Small boy presses into brick and mortar to disappear Invisibly thin sucking in his air – forgets to release an exhale No noise invisible boy becomes fresh paint As he dries on the breath of someone who should not— have touched Read more
It’s the feeling of afternoon storms rolling in pale skies dimpled with stretch marks, lights dim as the rooms of stone castles in fantasies, smoke lingering from candles dragged gingerly through narrow halls. You can taste the moisture as it moves, tentative cool, dewy probes enveloping your skin and swallowing Read more
My favorite part of pregnancy was the idea of aliens inside me— limbs prodding beneath layers of muscles parted, tissues stacked tucking essential human elements of me and them together so we could feed off of each other symbiotically. I loved how they teased the outside world with impressions from Read more
I have written a million poems about my body. How she couldn’t stay in her lane, fit in her assigned container, listen to directions. How she never did what was expected, lived in the fray, wandered endlessly from ship to ship.
But in just a few seconds, the test showed positive. Yes, I was pregnant. I called my mother at once and told her everything. Fortunately, she already knew that my husband Jim and I had been having marital problems for a while and that I had looked elsewhere for sex, so she wasn’t at all surprised. Nor was she judgmental.