Nurture—the care of/encouragement of growth or
how you hold me
you’re going to be a good *** father someday.

your own drank black coffee from Styrofoam cups
your mother sold your bicycle

to buy the plastic spoons she fed you with
to buy herself more beer.

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Within the first month that we met, over coffee
I told you shyly I write poetry.

You said you didn’t know anything about it.
I laughed and told you that most people don’t.

You know what’s poetry?
The way you hold your coffee mug.

The way your strong hands grip dainty porcelain
The way you looking at me while drinking it; a smile tugging at the rim.

You don’t know anything about poetry.