“Grieving Hope” © Jury S. Judge

 

Intrauterine

The nurse said:
I’m not going to lie,
this is going to hurt,
and I felt the strain in my gut,
my anxious heart
racing.

My body,
strewn out on that table
like a Thanksgiving turkey –
let the doctor inside,
pierce my insides.

The sweat dripped down
from my forehead
to my toes – the very lips -threaded
in the stirrups.

I’m worried about
his administration, I thought.
If they want to take my birth control,
they’re going to have to rip it out of my body
themselves.

I sit up again,
nauseated, disoriented.
More delirious than when
I herniated a disc,
spent the week
bringing smoke to my lips
to feel better. This pain
will go away soon.

When the stab in my stomach
subsides, still the threat –
the lone I didn’t ask for –
looms over me.
Fascists get out
of my uterus!

 

Alli Schroeder is an author of sorts. A Pittsburgh native, born-to be-mild, enthusiast of the mundane, her work has appeared in Moss Puppy, Hard Freight and Bric-a-brac. Her poetry first chapbook Asking for it, is available from Lulu press. She received her undergraduate degree in English and Women’s studies from Penn State University.

Jury S. Judge is an internationally published artist, writer, poet, and cartoonist. Her “Astronomy Comedy” cartoons were published in Lowell Observatory’s publication, The Lowell Observer. She was interviewed on the television news program, “NAZ Today” for her work as a cartoonist. Her artwork has been widely featured in over one hundred and fifty magazines, including the covers of, Blue Mesa Review, Elements Review, Glass Mountain, and Levitate. She has also been interviewed by Streetlight Magazine and The Antonym. The City of Flagstaff selected her art for a public art opportunity where her art was displayed on traffic signal cabinet boxes located at two different intersections. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. In addition to art and photography, her passions include hiking and traveling to exciting, new destinations.