"Trying For Another Child" by Rage Hezekiah

Trying For Another Child

Yet another test

              urine light & hydrated

fast from a lemon



former lemon seed

              before my son’s head

emerged downy



with dark hair.

              I wanted two

pink lines, despite



retroverted

              uterus, cervix shy—

conception age



geriatric, I am

              ever racked

with want 


though my small

              toddler sings

of lobsters, tells



me pincers pinch

              you can’t touch, Mama

He peppers the alphabet



with nouns

              L-M-N-O-cucumber!

What if I want



maximal joy? How dare I  

               be a woman in desire— 

begging for more

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Rage Hezekiah is a poet and educator whose poems have been anthologized, co-translated, and published internationally. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, Cave Canem, Ragdale, Outpost, and Vermont Studio Center. Her recent collection, Yearn, was a Diode Editions Book Contest winner, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the Vermont Book Award, and the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. She serves as Interviews Editor at The Common, and her poems have recently been published in Iowa Review, Georgia Review, and AGNI.

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