his second will be I don’t know, and his third will be silence,
I will do so just to teach him how they are all synonyms,
how they might as well mean the same thing
because none of them mean consent.
I will teach him yes is the only word that ever means yes,
and that ‘smile’ is never a command.
I will teach him that fists do not have all of the answers
and that his tears aren’t something to fear,
that his feelings are actually entire universes worth exploring
(and if he doesn’t learn them early, they will become heavier and heavier until the weight of his emotional labor won’t ever be something he understands how to lift.)
When I raise a daughter, her first language will be herself,
she will speak autonomy so well it will be added to the list of romance languages
because it will be that damn beautiful when she speaks it.
I will teach her that no matter how that damn beautiful it is when she speaks it,
someone or many someone’s will still have the nerve to talk over her
but this never speaks to the worth of her words or of her.
I will teach her that her smile is not a party favor
and that she only has to share it when she feels so inclined.
I will teach her there is no such thing as Santa Claus or lady like,
that her body is hers even when the world makes her feel like it isn’t.
When I raise a human, I will raise them just like a human.
What separates a human from any other animal
is the ability to self-reflect
so I will make sure they know looking inward is more important
than looking anywhere else
but not to get lost there because what good is self-reflection that doesn’t go anywhere else?
I will teach them reflection is a cul-de-sac you must come back from.
I will teach them to never get so lost they can’t get found,
and to never be as cruel as this world is
but to always be as kind as this world can be.
I will teach them not to let the volume of water in their glass
be determined by the liquid in someone else’s pitcher.
I will add that if someone else has entrusted them with their refills,
that they must be as steady handed as possible.
I will remind them that no matter how well-intentioned,
they will never have hands that have the ability to do everything
their friends or lovers may need without having been told so they must do another human thing, and talk to one another.
I will tell them they are better than no one,
that they should only seek to be better than themselves yesterday.
I will teach them that our present society is built to help only those of us who claim to have developed it, to be mindful of the spaces they operate in and all of the things they have just by being born as them.
I will teach them that they are a walking poem.
They will always need editing regardless of whether or not they want it
and I will remind them that this does not make them less complete, but more.
& 