THERE IS NO TALENT IN

There is no talent in growing a life.
The life grows with or without your consent.

My life grew as a storm trajectory's nerves.
My baby grows without connotation,

grows purely for the sake of time spent engaged.
I read about a middle-aged woman dancing at a festival.

It was her first time dancing. My baby knows
nothing about five-year plans or nostalgia.

On the sonogram, my baby jumps on my uterus like it is
a trampoline. My baby knows nothing of trampolines.

Whitney Koo is the author of Any Gesture (Black Lawrence Press 2026) and Founder/Editor of Gasher Press. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals such as POETRY Magazine, the Los Angeles Review, Colorado Review, Seneca Review, American Literary Review, and others. She holds a PhD in English-Creative Writing from Oklahoma State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Colorado Boulder. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University.