Born of Her Body
by Ashley Grubb
Editor’s Note: To view the triptych below in full size, all you need to do is click on it.
Ashley Grubb lives in Topeka, Kansas, the city of poets (really! Look it up) where she is gainfully unemployed. This is her first published work since the 2004 Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards, back when she, herself, was practically an embryo.
What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “Born of Her Body”? I didn’t have to do a lot of research for this piece. Once I began brainstorming the commentary on the main story, my brain surprised me with how much it knew about trees, fetal development, the composition of soil, and Biblical etymology and stories. I was also surprised by how interconnected all the pieces of commentary could be. In my research on Mary and myrrh, for example, I was pleasantly surprised that myrrh, too, has an arboreal connection, as it is derived from tree resin. Trees are so ubiquitous in our biology and culture that they are paradoxically easy to overlook. Capsula Mundi is a real invention, by the way, albeit sadly ensnared in red tape. I think it would be a beautiful thing to give one’s corpse, or even one’s life, to become a baby tree.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
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Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again March 15, 2023. Submit here.
Upcoming
04/01 • Lu Chekowsky
04/08 • Robin Turner
04/15 • Beth Sherman
04/22 • TBD
04/29 • TBD