This selection, chosen by guest editor H.V. Cramond, is from Eldest Daughter: a Break-up Story by Megan Cannella (Porkbelly Press 2023).
Our Body
Sometimes, the smell of my body getting older
is the smell of my mother’s body just existing.
The t-shirt I sleep in and sweat in and don’t wash nearly enough
sometimes smells sweet and sour—like a nostalgia that isn’t
entirely mine.
I am convinced
there is something generational
about the way
I’m settling into my body.
Once upon a time,
I was just an egg
in the ovary
of the fetus
tethered to my grandmother’s life force.
Now, when I bleed,
my bathroom smells of the rusting iron
that used to flow from my mother.
Megan Cannella (she/they) is a neurodivergent Midwestern transplant currently living in Nevada. They’re a Best of the Net and Pushcart nominated writer, with publications scattered across the internet. If you like this chapbook, go check out Megan’s others: Human Clocks (Nat 1 LLC), I Redact You, Too (Alien Buddha Press), and Confrontational Crotch (On Tap Publishing). When she’s not writing, you can find Megan reading smut, watching Bravo, and having opinions.
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