while ducting
tape around
perforated bellybutton
bulges

clutch your
exhale
.           suck in
the fat often
remarked
a food baby
giggle like
old-engine
tailpipes

then bungee cord
womb tighter
after resting
comb bangs neat
tuck shirt
below hem

drown
nausea
in nostalgia
and hug your
toilet bowl
again

give sprite
hands wishbone
legs sprouting
round bum
hammocked atop
bladder
no thought

this will only aid
doorknobs
in refusing
to turn —unlike
your womb
now a 24hr
ferris wheel

and ever so quietly
lullaby honey-oat cheerios
back down
your throat
succumb not
to the storm

and hope          mommas
cant intuit glowing
or growing
below corsets
soundly
sealed
take one last look

and pray          again
think of bleach
and stairfalls
plan b               but
never after
two trimesters
have thinned

never of
how his hands
roaming
might liquiform
your spineline
now tender
with weight       if he wanted to
but he dont

walk instead the one mile
tosummerschoolenglish
trynottofeelitskicks
resist
donotrubyourbellyagain
donotrubyourbellyagain

you will only
unwind
the tape

-Jaria Gordon