notes on womanhood (abridged)
liminal space
1. the place a person is in during a transitional period
2. empty or abandoned places that appear eerie, forlorn, or surreal
3. the aperture; a doorway between who you are
& who you’re meant to become.
the world has been shaping & reshaping
my soft clay body from birth when I was most loved
no scars no wounds to pinch & roll out
everything else is mere liminal space between
we all come into this world more or less the same
it’s always been our ends that capture us best
each of us hands, pushing each other beyond
the boundaries of the physical body, some unknown
hideaway between the realms of the living & the
dead.
if I am ever the victim of a true crime podcast,
I’d like to think I know how they would spin it:
beloved young English teacher & bride-to-be tragically
struck down in her prime, leaving behind a bereaved family
& a devastated fiancé. how terribly awful, taken
away from us so soon. anyway, here’s how we think
he did it. will her killer ever be found?
sometimes I think the world would love me better
dead.
Emma Conlon (she/her) is an emerging poet and a recent graduate of the University of Virginia. Her work has been featured in Eunoia Review, Pen & Pendulum, Wet Ink Haven, Merak Magazine, Polemical Zine, and elsewhere. Her debut poetry collection, Changing of the Tides & Other Poems, was self-published in 2022. Find more of her work at emmaconlon.com and most social media platforms @byemmaconlon.
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