Conceptual Age

As with much of Ana María Caballero's work, Conceptual Age questions how biology delimits cultural rites. The poem juxtaposes two scientific terms associated with procreation, ""gestational age,"" which measures the elapsed pregnant time since the body first prepared to ovulate, and ""conceptual age,"" the span of time since an egg became fertilized, or the true fetal age.

By showing how the body, or nature, has an intelligence that is independent of and anterior to human intervention, Caballero's verse reveals how the cosmos are always one step ahead.

Artwork by https://x.com/CaballeroAnaMa