Family Planning (Poem-A-Day 20)

Wedding CakeFor today’s prompt, write a family poem. I’ve actually written a few poems about my family this month already, but you don’t have to restrict yourself to your own family. There are any number of human families, of course, but also animals, insects, and other organisms. Plus, there are “families” of other types as well. As usual, feel free to bend the prompt to your favor.

Family Planning

You can choose your family
Not your natal family
But all subsequent families

However you are not allowed
To choose just anyone
That would be anarchy

One man and one woman
Natural children or
Adoptions in the same race

(It goes without saying
That the man and woman
Must be of the same race)

I’ll rationalize it
With a book obsolete
A thousand years

Because I know what’s best for everyone
Because I will only approve of your family
If it won’t make me uncomfortable

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About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, a collection of poets in the Triangle region of North Carolina where he has hosted a monthly feedback workshop for more than decade. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he lives and writes poetry.
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