Sonnet to an embryo: poems for pregnancy loss

By Dawn Apiarist

"Sonnet to an embryo" is not simply a book. It is a soft lament, a whispered prayer, a tribute in verse to lives that existed quietly, briefly, and deeply.

Written after the loss of four pregnancies, this collection emerges not from a place of closure, but from the ongoing echo of grief, from the silent places where no answers live. These poems do not try to explain loss or to decorate pain. They simply offer it a voice.

Each poem carries the imprint of a love too vast to be undone by time, too quiet to be recognized by most, and too sacred to be forgotten. This is a book for the mothers no one sees, for the babies no one met, for the ache that lives where names and birthdays never formed.

It wasn't really

"It wasn't really a baby
it was just centimeters"
yes, it was a whole world
that might have changed the world
at least my world

"It wasn't really a pregnancy
you were pregnant for some weeks only"
yes, I was carrying
a universe inside of me
just for weeks
that changed my DNA forever

"You weren't really a mother"
yes, I was a pseudo-mother
with pseudo-children
yes, four of them
and maybe from four I can make one whole
to count as a mother that has lost a baby

The sonnets within are not bound by traditional form, but by emotional honesty. They wander through the landscapes of memory, longing, silence, and surrender. They ask questions no one dares to answer. They sit in the stillness that follows heartbreak, and somehow, in that stillness, they offer something resembling peace.

This book is not about moving on. It is about staying present with what is real. It is about holding the invisible and saying, "This mattered." It is about remembering in a world that so often forgets.

"Sonnet to an embryo" is the second volume in the "To an embryo" collection, and though born from personal grief, it belongs to every mother who ever loved beyond the physical, beyond time, beyond comprehension.

If you have ever felt alone in your mourning, these pages may keep you company. If you have ever wondered whether your grief is valid, let these poems tell you: it is. It always was.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FH4JJ4SW
• ISBN13: 9798291647288
• Release Date: July 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 50 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"