Tag: Fall 2012
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No good options
David ThoelePark Ridge, Illinois, USA Poet’s statement This poem is about my patient Aaron, who was born, immediately became very sick and blue, and later the same day, died in his parents’ arms. Aaron had severe congenital heart disease, which we ultimately concluded was not compatible with life. Aaron’s parents and I made the difficult…
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Heavy. Period. – We breathe together
Cheryl Kaplan ZachariahChicago, Illinois, USA Poet’s statement These poems are clearly very personal to me, as I wrote each of them after separate miscarriages. I have since had two more, which I have not yet been able to write about. Although “infertility” is categorized as a disease according to the World Health Organization and many…
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At 38 weeks, wondering
Catherine BellingChicago, Illinois, United States Poet’s statement This poem suggests, from the point of view of an uncomfortably pregnant near-term woman, a possible origin story for humans’ upright posture with its ironic disadvantages for pregnancy and childbirth. At 38 weeks, wondering How many legsdoes God have?Two, you say, of course, like us.Or did we in…
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After the funeral
Terri EricksonLewisville, North Carolina, United States Poet’s statement When my brother was killed in a tragic accident before his 21st birthday, the anguish I felt was unbearable. Watching my parents, particularly my mother, mourn the loss of their only son was almost worse. In retrospect, it seems that the emotional agony of losing a child…
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Fertility/Futility
Raina CowanChicago, Illinois, USA Artist’s statementWhile undergoing treatment for infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss, I became fascinated by the inner workings of the body. I made delicate watercolors: meditations on the elusive process of conception. Other pieces emerged: a cardboard marionette whose flayed heart is on the verge of bursting into flames; assemblage boxes containing…