THE SOUNDTRACK TO MY C-SECTION (Poem)

THE SOUNDTRACK TO MY C-SECTION

By Farah Lawal Harris, 2025

Before my emergency C-section,

there were lots of questions:

“Are you willing to wait til morning for your OB?”

“Ready to have your baby?”

“Ok, hon, can you sit very still for me?”

And in the operating room, the most surprising one:

“What Pandora radio station do you want?”

I chose Beyoncé,

wishing to be Sasha Fierce brave

as they strapped my arms down to the table.

Four Rihanna songs and lots of tugs later,

my baby left his cocoon and cried.

I hummed to “Love the Way You Lie”

as my white obstetrician joked

about how enlarged my uterus was,

pressuring my husband to take a picture.

Too drugged to ask “What the fuck?”

I could only hum “S&M” as she pushed and shoved

to put me back together again.

When they brought my crying baby

to my side of the curtain to meet me,

we both let out a sigh of relief.

“Know that I’ll be here forever”

I hummed to him silently,

too overjoyed to be angry.