Tiny pregnancy
Miniature rehearsal
For something that may
Or may not 
Still come
Prolonged distension 
Pressing soreness
Uncomfortableness    
Seen or unseen 
From the outside
A low-grade pain between 
The shoulder blades 
As if having carried 
A heavy burden for days
Or maybe years 
Especially on the right side
Mysterious 
Underground connection
To the lower abdomen 
Irradiating to the two dimples 
Assigned to the goddess of love 
Then down to the 
Seemingly inflamed feet
A subtle pulsation 
Only consciously felt
When you sit
Not quite enough to call a pain
No actual reason to complain
No reason to justify
The inner exasperation cry
To just crawl back into bed
And throw away the annoyingly
Ever-ticking clock
Of expectations  
For a soothing cuddle 
Of even a soft blanket
If you are extremely lucky
Sometimes you can hit
The snooze button
On the daily to-do list
And join the privileged women
Of faraway traditional cultures
You once read about
Who are blissfully afforded the time  
To fold back on themselves
To nurse and mourn
The ebb and flow of life 
Including their own 
Without the still pervading stigma 
Of uncleanliness
A thing of the collective unconscious  
I guess
If not 
You just get to go about
Your daily business 
With or without support 
From a pill
Or a friend to confide in
Under the general
Tacitly implied hush-hush
Surrounding such trivial
Bodily matters 
It is still a shame you know
To talk about these things 
Openly
Especially as a woman 
I find
As a man you are more likely to 
Get the badge of honour
For being brave
Compassionate 
Or even making art 
As I discovered when outraged 
By the impious beginning 
Of a Romanian short novel 
In which the male author ventures 
To describe the experience
From a young girl's perspective
As if he had the right 
To enter such a holy place 
Oh the mad hybris
Of storytelling 
But I
Some might think
I am only a woman 
What on earth am I doing
Turning THIS into a poem 

(2021)

Sursă foto: Pixabay.com

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