Poem of the Week - "The Pregnant Man" by Joelle Taylor

The title of this one certainly caught my eye, and the poem below it certainly didn't disappoint!

The Pregnant Man

It began with blood, 
a red photograph on the bed sheets
in which he could see himself as a woman,
and when the pains began -
sharp as an own goal,
as hard as closing time - 
was not surprised. Composed himself. Breathed.
Shaved his face blank in the bathroom mirror
and beneath the scribbles of hair
he found her waiting there.

Archaeology of the body. 

There is someone else here.
Just beneath the dust of the skin.
Silent. Watching. Waiting.

He carried the woman inside him
for eight months and counting
until finally 
one eye-bag open-mouth afternoon
he burst
over the living room carpet
and the patterns chased each other up the walls
and stayed.

Never much of a man
and even worse husband.
Who would have thought that within him
was the perfect woman?

More of Joelle Taylor's excellent poetry can be found her collection The Woman Who Was Not There (Burning Eye), available from Inpress Books.