How to Love like a Mother by Ashley Malecha (Minnesota, 25)

I like the girl dogs the most,  
how they care so easily,  
licking and curling around their pups.  
I like their girl dog greetings, 
Wiggle your tooshie, honey, wag your tail! 
Is that what you mean when you call me a “bitch”? 
Because somewhere inside the smooth 
skin of my body, there beats a small  
but weighted howl flowing from life’s force. 
Don’t you want to know? 
Don’t you want to place your hand over my chest and feel 
the heavy beating affectionate creation 
that thinks, that knows, 
it will bond with the newborn.  
And yet after all I’ve done,  
you still snarl “bitch.”

​​Ashley Malecha is a writer living on the Mississippi River in Minnesota with her two dogs and cat. She has an undergraduate degree in English-creative writing from Southwest Minnesota State University. Her writing can be found in Normandale Community College’s literary
magazine Paper Lantern, and SMSU’s Perceptions. ​