Original Poetry by Diya Bose: “The Organ I Grew When You Grew in Me”

When I grew you

Inside of me,

I grew new limbs.

My branches grew new ways

To reach for the world

And touch it

In the places where it aches.

 

When I grew you

Inside of me,

I grew roots

That hunger

more madly,

thirst

more devoutly.

 

Inside of me,

Eyes multiplied

And blossomed on my skin

Like fish scales.

 

You were once slipped surreptitiously

Into my womb

To tame my wild ways,

Only to grow into the fire in my belly,

Ever leaping in joy,

Ever steady in vigil.

 

All that I poured into myself

In all my years wandering…and light

* * *

Diya Bose is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at UCLA. She spent the last year doing fieldwork on transgender issues in India while also trying to have a happy and healthy pregnancy and birthing experience. Her new poems, including this one, emerge out of meditations on the struggles and delights encountered on that unexpected dual journey.

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