by Nancy Woo
And then suddenly I was
born into a world
of form. Stethoscopes
and white tables.
A mother wound.
Hers is ours.
I dive back in,
feel the walls stretching.
I reach up to feel
her heart beating.
My hand tunnels up,
up, up and out her mouth.
I become an utterance,
a calla lily in between
her lips, unfurling.
Nancy Lynée Woo is a poet, eco-organizer, and imagination enthusiast who harbors a wild love for the natural world. Nancy has received fellowships from California Creative Corps, Artists at Work, PEN America, Arts Council for Long Beach, and others. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University and is the author of I’d Rather Be Lightning (Gasher, 2023).