This next one my brother just had twins.
Oh my God.
Thank you.
That's so nice of you.
Yeah.
Oh, cool.
So great.
Yeah, they're cute.
The ungendered term for like a niece or nephews is a nibbling,
so I got two nibblings.
And I've been writing a sequence of poems for them.
Yeah, like before they were born.
And when I told my brother I was writing this he was like,
OK, OK, just don't do this one thing.
And so that sort of spawned this poem.
I call it "For My Nibblings In Anticipation Of Their Birth".
My brother knowing my work well asked I not include any
references to semen in the throat in this poem I'm writing
you, so I shan't.
Instead semen in the books, semen in the leaves,
semen in the ground that grows the semen trees also known
as the callery pear.
Semen in the boat that carried our family here.
Semen in the waters where we left our dead.
Semen in the meadows where we buried and bled.
Semen in the light streaming through the stained glass
of our synagogue, the image depicting an arc
in an ocean of semen.
Gossamer semen, octopus semen, garden of semen.
There are so many words for you children and none of them
are dirty, though not all of them are yours.
Now as you eat what your mother eats, her fear is your fear,
and this your world torn and thrown to the birds.
But still, the light is thick in the trees.
The callery pears are loud this season,
and my throat is bright with flowers for you
both, such beautiful flowers.
I hardly have the words.
Thank you.
Yeah, so I read that to a bunch of high schoolers today,
and they loved it.
I was thinking I would edit what I read between two events,
but I feel like everyone is as adaptive and interested
and interesting as high schoolers.
We should all like to be so young.
You know what I mean?
Oh also they said I look 25, so.
I know right?
I do.