Margin of Remnant

Abstract

Margin of Remnant Meg Reynolds (bio) The nurse from the maternal care center callsto say my hormone levels are down. My bloodsays 5 hcg. I don't know what this meansexcept as a margin of remnant. Her call interruptsthe true crime podcast I was listening toon the walk to work. Trace evidence:a hair on a lapel, blood spatter,microscopic owl feathers or the concentratedstippling of gunpowder. dna nursessuch an urge toward decay, forensics has to hurryto preserve it. Soon, there will be no signthat I was pregnant at all. If my body were foundin the open dumpster behind the Shopping Bag,the autopsy would say, Female, 34, various injuries,found dusted with snow, but not pregnant.There's not even an itch of them left, nothingto protect or gentle into being. I can affordto be reckless. I go to the gym and run,increase the incline, sweat, letthe machine shake under me. [End Page 136] Meg Reynolds Meg Reynolds is a poet, artist, and teacher from New England. Her work has appeared in Mid-American Review, the Offing, RHINO, Indianapolis Review, Gigantic Sequins, and Exposition Review, among others. Her first collection of poetry comics, A Comic Year, was published in October 2021 with Finishing Line Press. Her second book, a collection of poems titled Does the Earth, was published by Harpoon Review Books in 2023. She lives in Burlington, Vermont with her family. Copyright © 2022 University of Nebraska Press