Size / / /

I'd do the diapers.

Using formula would be a blow,

I will admit, but I'll make do

with Einstein videos

to keep the child's IQ up.

Just let me have a baby.

I'm not the type of man

who needs a son,

testosterone dictating

that my genes be writ

into posterity. Fatherhood

is what I crave, training wheels,

bandaids, burnt meatloaf,

and the chance to change one life

in ways my own was not.

Just let me have the baby.

I'll do anything, make gold

from straw, give up my name

three times.

I know so many lullabies.

Just let me hold it, once.




Mary Alexandra Agner writes of dead women, telescopes, and secrets. Her poetry, stories, and nonfiction have appeared in The Cascadia Subduction ZoneShenandoah, and Sky & Telescope, respectively. She can be found online at http://www.pantoum.org.
Current Issue
4 Nov 2024

“Did you know,” the witch says, “that a witch has no heart of her own?”
Outsiders, Off-worlders {how quickly one carves out a corner of the cosmos, / claims a singular celestial body as [o u r s] in the scope of infinity}
Lunar enby folks across here
Wednesday: The 2024 Ignyte Award for Best Novel Shortlist, Part Two 
Friday: A Place Between Waking and Forgetting by Eugen Bacon 
Issue 28 Oct 2024
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By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
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By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
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