Pseudocyesis
—the symptoms of pregnancy without an actual fetus
Schrödinger’s baby
in the box of your swelling
inward tug on the navel’s root
catfish sucking bait off a hook
bottom feeder in the womb’s mud
phantom limbs kicking
your belly’s heartless pulse
the negative test like
fighting to reel in an empty line
the pull, sensation of nothing
Beth Suter studied Environmental Science at U.C. Davis and has worked as a naturalist and teacher. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, her poems have appeared in Colorado Review, New American Writing, Barrow Street, DMQ Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, and others. Her 2022 debut chapbook Snake and Eggs was a finalist in Finishing Line Press’s New Women’s Voices Contest. This poem first appeared in Driftwood Press. You can find her at facebook.com/bethfsuter