{"id":2074,"date":"2021-11-30T21:56:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T01:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/?page_id=2074"},"modified":"2021-12-02T13:41:35","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T17:41:35","slug":"a-pregnancy-scare","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/poetry-archive\/a-pregnancy-scare\/","title":{"rendered":"A Pregnancy Scare"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

A Pregnancy Scare in Three Parts<\/strong>
Cathy Cook<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

i<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There is a ghost in my gut
some spirit that is both there
and not there at the same time,
Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s baby until I brave
the pee stick. The child-to-be
that both does and does not exist
is already keeping me up at night
before its existence has even
been confirmed. I have bitten
my fingernails down so far
I am now chewing on the edges
of my fingers. The baby-that-has
-not-yet-proven-its-existence
is a phantom crib in my bedroom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Every proffered beer, margarita,
shot of vodka or tequila
is filled with existential dread.
<\/span>
Can you be a bad parent before
the existence of a child is confirmed?
Still I say no. Still I do not pee<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

on the stick, leaving me in alcohol
limbo. A woman who both can
and cannot drink. I have compromised,<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

given up alcohol but not caffeine
until I resolve this ghost in my gut.
Read the prophecy in the pee stick.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It\u2019s easy to pretend.
Easy to ignore the lack of blood
as the moon waxes, wanes,
waxes again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

ii.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I am the moon if I am mother.
I am waxing into something
incandescent and mysterious,
something ominous yet holy.
But the baby does not yet exist.
I am not the moon. So my hands
are bitten into obedience<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I am a small mammal, frozen
in fear by the predator future.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

iii.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Piss. Wait 2 minutes.
One blue line. Negative, so
why am I still late?<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cathy Cook <\/strong>is a Pushcart prize nominated poet and the 2018 Albuquerque
Poetry Slam Champion. She works as a journalist in New Mexico. Blog:<\/span>
rewritereread.wordpress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Pregnancy Scare in Three PartsCathy Cook i. There is a ghost in my gutsome spirit that is both thereand not there at the same time,Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s baby until I bravethe Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3221,"featured_media":2259,"parent":1261,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2074"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2074"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2274,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2074\/revisions\/2274"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}