Useful Advice

You're 37?  Don't you think that maybe

It's time you settled down and had a baby?

No wine?  Does this mean happy news?  I knew it!

Hey, are you sure you two know how to do it?

All Dennis has to do is look at me

And I'm knocked up.  Some things aren't meant to be.

It's sad, but try to see this as God's will.

I've heard that sometimes when you take the Pill—

A friend of mine got pregnant when she stopped

Working so hard.  Why don't you two adopt?

You'll have one of your own then, like my niece.

At work I heard about this herb from Greece—

My sister swears by dong quai.  Want to try it?

Forget the high-tech stuff.  Just change your diet.

It’s true!  Too much caffeine can make you sterile.

Yoga is good for that.  My cousin Carol—

They have these ceremonies in Peru—

You mind my asking, is it him or you?

Have you tried acupuncture?  Meditation?

It’s in your head.  Relax!  Take a vacation

And have some fun.  You think too much.  Stop trying.

Did I say something wrong?  Why are you crying?

Catherine Tufariello

From Poetry: A Pocket Anthology, 3rd Edition, Penguin
Academics, Publisher; R.S. Gwynn, Editor; © 2001.  First
published in Tar River Poetry.  Reprinted by permission
of the author.