As I Said: A Dissent

 

As I Said is a collection of long poems; an exploration of abortion & contraception in U.S. history and in my family; a consideration of the ways that racial, reproductive, & economic politics have intersected in the U.S. over time; and a love song to dissident reproductive practices and the feminine void. 

It includes a documentary study of the infamous 19th-century abortion provider Madame Restell, who lived and worked in Manhattan from the early 1830s until her death in the late 1870s. It's also anchored by a lyric prose poem based on interviews with my grandmother and mother about their pre-Roe experiences with abortion.

 I'm grateful to everyone who laughed, talked, wept, and theorized with me about this book and its subjects over many years. I hope now that it's out in the world it can make its way into all sorts of lives, hearts, hands, and homes.