lithopaedion - Paperback

by Carrie Nassif (Author)

LITHOPAEDION is a poetry collection both visceral and tender. Named after a greek term meaning "stone baby," a lithopaedion is the result of an extremely rare condition in which the fetus of a failed ectopic or abdominal pregnancy cannot be reabsorbed by its mother's body; its tissues become calcified to prevent infection, sepsis, or death. Likewise, these poems consider the unspoken hardness of being mothered, the hazards of coming into motherhood, and the pains of mothering imperfectly. While embodying metaphors of intergenerational disconnection from a queer vantage point, this work investigates the human capacity for repair and our craving for vulnerability.