Home Birth

Jasmine Kapadia

Jasmine Kapadia is a senior and a poet. She is interested in bridging the gap between spoken word and literary poetry. Her favorite poets include Ocean Vuong and Warsan Shire.

sit with your belly. today, it is enough to feel the planet shift under your feet. a thousand dimensions open themselves for you. girl: in every story i read, you have my name. i give it to you again and again, let you carve it into my collarbones. let you trace it into my spine. your thumb, pressing it into my cheek. in every story i write i braid you tight against my tongue; hot and pink, this girlish color. violent feminine, conjugating your hips. baby, please don’t be scared of your body. please don’t deny yourself its holiness. it is not a burden, or a thing you must carry. let it be enough to live beside yourself, to press the shell of your ear into your burning chest. in every iteration, i tell you, listen for yourself. see how the languages collide for you. i’ve given you my name so you can rewrite it, translate it into something better. the multi-universe theory says that there exists infinite versions of you: your past, your present. me creating you each time. telling you don’t swallow, you’ll choke.

Graphic by Xiaohan Li