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On seeing Sophia from Calculus
I saw her in aisle seventeen
Between the canned tuna
And endless rows of spaghetti-o’s
She was deciding between
The pureed peas and the squash
I began to walk towards her
To tell her she had missed our calculus exam
But that it hadn't been too hard
And to ask her if she was feeling better
But I stopped short when I noticed.
Sophia towered over the spaghetti-o's
Her gray sweatshirt stretched tight
Over her swollen stomach
Her fingers stretched like a web over it
Methodically messaging her protruding bump
She was with her mother
Who spoke fervently into her phone, clearly
Grappling with something much more important
Than the choice between
Gerber and happy family
Her brow was knit with concentration
She rocked back and forward on her heels
As if uncomfortable in every position
Her eyes scanned the price tag
On every single can of peas.
I thought then of the boy
Who'd bragged about getting the girl
I wonder why he isn’t here
Holding Sophia’s hand and calming her mother
Choosing between pureed peas and squash.
I must've had a crisis of existence
The halo-top in my hand was melting
And was Sophia's stomach really that big
or was it just a trick of the fluorescent lighting
in aisle seventeen.
I walked back out to the car
Licking fallen drops of caramel-peanut-butter
And when my mother asked where I'd been
I merely replied that I'd seen Sophia from calculus
In aisle seventeen.
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This article has 1 comment.
This piece is about teen pregnancy, and actually about a personal experience I had. As a teen, it's hard to believe that somebody you know would make such different life choices. It's too easy to judge, like the speaker in the poem.
The speaker is telling Sophia's story as if she knows everything, filling in the gaps with her own judgments. It is more difficult to remove judgment and have open conversations. We can see from the poem that Sophia wants the best for her baby, but hasn't been attending school and may not have enough money. Teenage pregnancy can be devastating, regardless of education and socio-economic status.