Arsenic Lobster
poetry journal |
Issue Nine Winter 2005 |
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from How to Respond to Another Teenage Pregnancy Kirk M. Wright Begin by thinking, I’m not a woman, but I’ve heard That the first time brings a little blood. Imagine this is better than sometime next month when there’s none. Question vicious circles, endless cycles, how babies beget babies beget babies, rubber baby buggy bumpers. Be stumped. Think of aunt and uncle, wonder why their warnings never got past her hick-town thickness, never penetrated. Say out loud that sex is overrated. Think of jail bait. Picture her feet on the window, wide thighs, underwear on the rear view. Hear the grunts and shoves. Think of latex and wonder where it was. Forget love. Imagine how the lazy-filthy-high-school-dropout-kicker-from-shitville felt as he dropped a life sentence deep inside her with a moan heavy as a wet diaper. Sharpen the knife. Wonder why he didn’t want proof, a souvenir in a water balloon, bragging rights, Show and Tell. Make a pun: Laugh and say, There’s living proof. Think of Hell. Think of high-water tux pants, a white dress, a blood test, a judge. Give them six months, tops. Be certain he will beat her. Invent the very best way to hold a grudge. Whisper abortion. Picture a door and behind it a closet and inside a jacket and right underneath and hooked on a rod is something that might be useful if it’s not wooden and can bend. Decide this is not an appropriate means to an end. Introduce her to your “doctor” friend. Remember what you haven’t mentioned: Toes, hands, fingers, feet, Pampers, tantrums, pacifiers. Recite Count to ten before you touch your child. Think of the missing on milk cartons Fight back a smile. Recall what you’ve learned of genes and traits. Watch him not get a job. Watch her not insist. Think of what’s inside her, the size of a curled fist. Hope they haven’t named it yet. Watch him watch T.V. Watch her light a cigarette. Whisper, Do something Before it’s too late. Watch him feel her belly quake, Hear them joking, It’s somersaulting or It’s having little dreams! Imagine the baby knows better, is wide awake and kicking to get out. Right now. Hear the little screams. |