36 weeks, Lyric. Photo by Jeanette LeBlanc Photography

it is really quite simple

birth isn’t transcendental

as much as it is sublingual

i taste it

and feel the way

it travels through my veins

and birth’s most bone-infusing lessons

are that

pregnancy progresses in spite of

and a spirit grows in spite of

and labor begins in spite of

and the bag of water releases in spite of

and a uterus pushes in spite of

and women birth in spite of

and a placenta detaches in spite of

and babies are born in spite of

and transformation occurs in spite of

and mothers reclaim their power in spite of

(fill in the blank)