Recently, I had the privilege of reading Samantha Duncan's chapbook The Birth Creatures (Agape Editions, 2016). The chapbook is scary, poignant, and honest--it centers around a pregnant woman who is only three weeks away from giving birth. In this way, it focuses on what birth actually means, and the frightening and surreal parts of pregnancy that many women often aren't sure how to vocalize--or are too afraid to vocalize. I love how brave Duncan is by focusing on what our society cannot--that pregnancy is not always pretty and happy--and in many ways, it's a violation of a woman's body, regardless of how loving and beautiful it also is.