Just be glad you can get pregnant,
they say. Just be glad
it happened early
before you got too
attached. Just be glad
your body
took care of it and
you didn’t need
a D&C. Just be glad
you don’t live in a state
that would treat you as
a criminal.
Just be glad.
Just be glad.
Just be glad.
Just pray about it. Just
be a better Christian. Just
stop worrying and
it will happen. Just
take it a bit more
seriously.
Just stop.
Just stop.
Just stop.
Everything happens
for a reason. Let go and
let God. The baby is
in a better place. It’s
better this way. It wasn’t
meant to be. You’ll get
over it. It’s not
that bad.
When did we
lose our decency, our
compassion?
When did we
forget
that our words have
meaning, that our empty platitudes
tell on us? They reveal
our smugness, our
relief that
it didn’t happen to us.
I wish this
on no one.
I wish you
understood.
I wish you
were there
when I needed you.
Photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi on Unsplash
Gretchen Corsillo
Gretchen Corsillo is a librarian and writer from the greater NYC area. She holds a B.A. in Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing from Ramapo College and a Masters in Library & Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Gretchen is the author of a bimonthly column for Public Libraries Magazine, and her work has also appeared in Salon and the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Blog. She is currently working on a novel. Learn more about her at gretchenkaser.com.
This world is individualist. And empathy becomes rare.