I do not want children, yet I hide this from my Wife. She speaks of motherhood, pregnancy, asks Questions To her sister who has twin girls, shares photos With me Of her friends’ newborns. Aren’t they adorable, She asks. Look at how magical they are, she says. Yes, yes, I Answer. They are. Absolutely beautiful, I add. And I mean These words. It is not fatherhood that scares me. That, I could Do well. But rather, it’s this world, where plastic is What we bequeath Where cancer is our blood type, Where people Continue to debate evolution yet smile as the Heard thins. Yes, I know, butterflies. Yes, I know, vistas of Pacific. Yes, I understand Potential, free will, revolutionaries. But what if That isn’t enough? What if, one day, long after my child takes her First steps, she comes Over to me, holds my hand, and says, Daddy, why Did you bring me here? I thought you loved me. — MATHIEU CAILLER
Mathieu Cailler is an award-winning author whose poetry and prose have been widely featured in numerous national and international publications, including the Los Angeles Times and The Saturday Evening Post. A graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, he is the winner of a Short Story America Prize, a Shakespeare Award, and a Best Microfiction Prize. He is the author of six books, just finished his first feature-length screenplay and is hard at work on a YA novel.