26 weeks

BY ASHLEY HOWELL BUNN

we will see it all
she whispers
as she pushes into my side
pressing flesh between fingers and wand
everything looks great

your femur appears from
the watery ink

Pause
                         click

prints an image for us to hold

how’s the pressure
I can’t decide if she means on my belly
or in my heart
as the air I breathe moves to your blood
you emerge sideways
ghostlike from my bloody shore

here’s the aortic arch
she speaks to her student
who I have allowed in the room
to view all that I hold inside

look at those ovaries, beautiful
I see only shadows
sunken faces
then your profile:,
elf-like, angelic 
sagittal view
split in half

like when you arrived
like every moment since 
split between two selves

the wand moves again 
and you sink 
into black water

Ashley Howell Bunn (she/they) completed her MFA in poetry through Regis University and holds a MA in Literature from Northwestern University. Their work has appeared in many places both in print and online. Their first chapbook, in coming light, was published in 2022 by Middle Creek Publishing and their second chapbook, Living Amends—coauthored with Alexander Shalom Joseph, is forthcoming through Galileo Press . Their work has been supported by Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and Sundress Publications. She is an adjunct instructor of English at the Community College of Denver and the Youth Program Coordinator at Lighthouse Writers Workshop. She is a certified somatic coach and yoga guide, and she offers somatic writing workshops in-person and virtually. When she isn’t writing, she is practicing yoga, running in the sunshine, playing with her kids, or daydreaming and staring off into space.