So We Can Know

Starred review from October 24, 2022
Poet Girmay (The Black Maria) brings together a striking anthology of essays, poetry, and visual art on the often-harrowing experience of pregnancy for women of color. “We are more than wombs, but we also know that our reproductive lives are in danger so we hold the shell of our lives open to the heart of the matter,” writes Nina Angela Mercer in her foreword. “We Participate in the Creation of the World by Decreating Ourselves” by Jennifer S. Cheng is a lyrical account of her fertility treatments, the birth of her child Isla, and her postpartum experience, while “Anatomy of the Breast” is an embroidery made by Laurie Ann Guerrero that depicts “the making of milk and insulin and empathy.” Tiphanie Yanique offers a bracing account of her miscarriage in “Wanting a Child Makes No Goddamn Sense”: “Do you understand that what I did to have a second child after my miscarriage, was make an agreement with God to have a third? Do you understand that I understand that bargaining is just a stage of grief?” The work as a whole is thick with grief and trauma, but the graceful reflections and breadth of experiences make sticking with it more than worthwhile. This one’s not to be missed.