Mohini Dasari

I am a general surgeon, mother to a toddler and lifelong lover of writing. I write poetry and short prose, and am working on a memoir about my life as a physician with emphasis on mental health and motherhood.

Empty Black Circle

I feel as hollow as the empty black circle staring at me from the screen. The nurse practitioner is quiet as she scans my uterus. A push to the left, a push to the right. Left, right, left, right. I gaze at the monitor, searching for what I’ve waited seven weeks to see: a white blob floating in a black ovoid sea, outlined by a bright white line.
Left, right, left, right. Back and forth, the cold probe pushes against my insides. The empty black circle keeps coming in and out of view. Nothing else.
Creative Nonfiction
Issue 92, February 2025

Mohini Dasari

I am a general surgeon, mother to a toddler and lifelong lover of writing. I write poetry and short prose, and am working on a memoir about my life as a physician with emphasis on mental health and motherhood.

Empty Black Circle

I feel as hollow as the empty black circle staring at me from the screen. The nurse practitioner is quiet as she scans my uterus. A push to the left, a push to the right. Left, right, left, right. I gaze at the monitor, searching for what I’ve waited seven weeks to see: a white blob floating in a black ovoid sea, outlined by a bright white line.
Left, right, left, right. Back and forth, the cold probe pushes against my insides. The empty black circle keeps coming in and out of view. Nothing else.
Creative Nonfiction
Issue 92, February 2025
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