“Until the quickening” what a way to let it end. Suspenseful. Each word so powerful and sets the tone powerfully. Amazed

Yeah, I wasn’t too sure on the punctuation in that line myself. I might edit it in the future, so thank you for the helpful feedback!

I was hooked by the title itself. I guess this poem talks either about twins or about a child from the mother's perspective, however, I might be wrong. I admire your choice of words (especially throbbing) and the imagery which sets a specific mood. The fact that the third line has a period in the middle of it is kind of unnecessary imo. I would make the second part of that line a new verse - that's a friendly advice. Everything else is very intriguing. :))

Thank you for your feedback! I hadn’t considered that this poem might be interpreted as a commentary on abortion. Likewise, I had not considered the possible connotations of the word ‘quickening’ outside of my immediate cultural context. Thank you for raising this, as it’s worth considering how things that are relatively innocuous to me might be read by people in different corners of the Anglo-sphere.

Even though I am on the pro choice side, I felt this poem was well-constructed. "Smooth beamed cradle" is absolutely inspired. (But it probably needs a hyphen between smooth and beamed.) If, however, this is meant to be a pro-life argument, you probably don't want to use a word like"quickening". It has an archaic and pious feel that would make it easily dismissible. Might replace with: <adjective> birth.


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We are here, within the throbbing darkness,

the smooth beamed cradle of your bones,

engulfed in flesh. Your breath, your beating heart's

rise-fall rhythms, bearing blood through our stillness

until the quickening. 

[https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/w6tpsi/comment/ihhmf3b/?utm\_source=share&amp;utm\_medium=web2x&amp;context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/w6tpsi/comment/ihhmf3b/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web2x&amp;context=3)

[https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/w70aor/comment/ihhl73b/?utm\_source=share&amp;utm\_medium=web2x&amp;context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/w70aor/comment/ihhl73b/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web2x&amp;context=3)

In Utero