AFTER THE ABORTION | HALLIE HALLER

When you wake up
And They tell you the earth has been cut from you
That you have severed the taproot
And will never grow whole

Refuse

In the second scene
They’ll have you hug your knees in the shower
Stare woeful
At mothers and their blossom babies in shops

Refuse

Bring me the boy you made with
Let’s look him through
And ask
Are You
empty now too?

Or is that not his portion?

After the abortion
They will tell you how to feel

Refuse

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Hallie Haller is a 31-year old South African, currently based in Johannesburg. She has written a multitude of unpublished pieces, received hundreds of rejection letters, invested unwisely in passion projects and lost it all for love—more than once. Her poetry has been recently featured in the 2018 Sol Plaatje Poetry Anthology Vol. VIII.

Hallie cares about media, the future and you. For love and money, she is a writer, multimedia producer and creative strategist.

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Cover image by Zachary Schomburg: photos of walls in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, an area that is very flat. The horizon lines on theses walls mimic that flat horizon line on its landscape.