Animals

Cutting a red door into her stomach, I perform
dissection as they’d done to my mother twenty years prior,
ripping me out into shrill light, wiping pink slime from me.

I shift wilted organs and mistake the black sac I grab
for feces, forgetting bodies forget themselves, evacuate,
muscles slipping into wide-eyed slumber.

Fetal bones grind between my fingers, their rasps muted in mucus
and rubbered uterus. I run outside, catch breath as if for the first time –
alone, indulging in the luxury of my mother’s choice, something like instinct.


Raegen.Pietrucha

Raegen Pietrucha writes, edits, and consults on professional and creative bases. She received her M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University, where she served on the staff of Mid-American Review. Her creative work has been published in Cimarron Review, Puerto del Sol, and other magazines. Visit her at http://raegenmp.wordpress.com.


 

 

Raegen Pietrucha
Raegen Pietrucha writes, edits, and consults on professional and creative bases. Her poetry chapbook, An Animal I Can’t Name, took first place in the 2015 Two of Cups Press’ competition. While pursuing her MFA at Bowling Green State University, she served on the staff of Mid-American Review literary magazine. As communications director for UNLV’s Division of Research and Economic Development, she serves as editor-in-chief of Innovation magazine. She has more than a hundred professional bylines. Contact her at raegenmp.wordpress.com.