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Late in the day for this, I know, but it still needs doing.

There are things people say
About being a father
That it is rewarding
That it is a damned lot of work
That it changes everything
And they are right.

They say that there is a chance
For jealousy
Of the baby
Because the baby becomes more important to the mother
Of the mother
Because she is more important to the baby
Than the father ever can be
And they are right.

(Forgive the heteronormativity
I can only write what I know
And I know that I am in the kind of relationship
That is unmarked because it is privileged)

They say that there is a chance
For madness
For lack of sleep and fundamental alterations
To identity
Are decentering and destabilizing
And neither is rewarded anymore if they ever were
And they are right.

They do not say, though,
That the little one will fart so much
Incessantly pushing gas
And loudly
Through a hole known to be small from the repeated cleaning of it

Juvenile it may be,
The kid does daddy proud.