First Trimester

By Tami Haaland

Published November 1st, 1998

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For three quiet months it’s not much more
than a mouse nest behind the pubic bone
so interior no one else can know.
A tiny cataclysm in the body
of the mother, it creates more earwax,
shiny hair, softer flesh, keener smell,
the need for fried eggs in the middle
of the night. It is a transformation
no more noticeable than aphids
colonizing the underside
of sunflower leaves or the soft larvae
of cabbage moths stretching themselves
along the broccoli’s interior stems.