You’re Going to Be a Father (Part 1) - Rosalie Hendon

You’re going to be a father.

I remember you in Mrs. Taylor’s Spanish class

sprawled over two desks, sleeping.

I remember you showing me a donkey jaw bone,

the newest instrument in your musical repertoire.

You taught me to make french toast with applesauce instead of eggs.

I kissed you before I left for college.

(You let me.)

I found an origami rose on my car

for my 18th birthday.

Now you’re going to be a father.

You’re getting married in Brazil.

You know Portuguese and Spanish.

Once, you paid for my Mexican food

after I broke up with David Kennell.

You showed me how to climb roofs.

I snuck into your house

and got caught cuddling with your sleeping cousin.

I thought he was you.

I read the graffiti while you deejayed at FSU.

We shared vegan soul food in Railroad Square.

I reclined on your makeshift bed in the warehouse you shared with your brother,

while you remained impassive in your chair.

You’re going to be a father

and I can see all the points

but I can’t connect them,

make a line to here

where now you’re engaged

and you’re going to be a father

and we’re only 24

and you’re going to be a father

and you live in Miami

and I live in Ohio

and you’re going to be a father.

---

Rosalie Hendon is an environmental planner living in Columbus, Ohio with her husband and many house plants. She started a virtual poetry group in 2020 during quarantine that has collectively written over 200 poems. Her work is published in Change Seven, Planisphere Q, Call Me [Brackets], Entropy, Pollux, Superpresent, Cactifur, Fleas on the Dog, Red Eft, Rising Phoenix, MockingHeart, Ariel’s Dream, and Willawaw. Rosalie is inspired by ecology, relationships, and stories passed down through generations.