ODE TO LEVONORGESTREL
Author’s Note: Levonorgestrel is the active ingredient in Plan B One-Step®, the leading brand in over-the-counter emergency contraceptive medication. This poem uses the chemical structural formula for the drug as a skeleton for the lyric exploration of what this highly politicized drug can mean to a person avoiding pregnancy.
116TH CONGRESS, 1ST SESSION, H.R. 490
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD – HOUSE, H6864–H6865, 2 DEC. 2021
ODE TO MISOPROSTOL
Author’s Note: Misoprostol is the second medication administered during a medication abortion within 48 hours of the administration of the first medication, Mifepristone. Mifepristone allows the patient’s uterine lining to break down, and Misoprostol induces the emptying of the uterus. These “abortion pills” are surrounded by so much noise. This poem aims to strip that noise from the chemical and allow the reader to experience the solemnity that accompanies the choice a person makes to swallow the pill.
Liz Harms is a poet and intersectional feminist from Arkansas, and serves as the managing editor of Ninth Letter. Liz’s work was chosen by Juan Felipe Herrara as a finalist for the 2023 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry and was awarded an Honorable Mention for Nimrod’s 2023 Pablo Neruda Prize. Her poetry appears or is forthcoming from Prairie Schooner, The Journal, Arkansas International, Nimrod, Crab Creek Review, and elsewhere.
