As the sun rises I look up female anatomy specifically reproductive viscera I am scrying internet images and AI summaries for meaning, for prediction, for answers is this what my insides look like is my viscera normal or is it abnormal and that is why my body killed my baby oh no I know that’s a bad thought of course none of this is my fault and that my insides that is my body i.e. me we I didn’t do anything wrong but what’s the problem in there what’s happening or not happening or happening wrong the words on the diagrams blur into more beautiful words the longer I look at them the more my eyes water the iliac artery is lilac artistry and lumbosacral trunk now Lambrusco sacred fuck and now at least I can imagine I contain common lilac and internal lilac and external lilac artistry inside me multitudes among my superior arteries and my ornate chalice of sweet bubbly red my insides tipsy with blossoms, with fragrance and effervescence, with maybe a baby or maybe something else that could flower there
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Michelle Peñaloza is the author of All The Words I Can Remember Are Poems (Persea Books, forthcoming Fall 2025) and Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire (Inlandia Books, 2019). Some of her honors include the Poetry Foundation’s Frederick Bock Prize and The James Laughlin Award from The Academy of American Poets. The proud daughter of Filipino immigrants, Michelle was born in the suburbs of Detroit, MI and raised in Nashville, TN. She now lives in Covelo, CA.
