The Woman Who Went Along With It : by Laura Chester

It’s not the right time for either of us. She knows that’s true but is that the reason. She places his hand on her swelling and later alone she cries through her teeth. His refusal to be the father seems so distant, unbelievable as cold stars stabbed into somebody else’s heaven. He says he’ll find the doctor drive them there and pay. Afterwards her eyes, scraped bare are those twin frozen stars which he looks away from. From “In the Zone: New Selected Writing” (Black Sparrow Press: $20, cloth; $12.50, paper; 231 pp.) Chester is the author of more than 10 volumes of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. The poem above is the third of four by Chester on pregnancy and related themes to be reprinted in Book Review over the coming weeks. 1988, Laura Chester. Reprinted by permission of Black Sparrow Press.