wishes for sons by Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton

i wish them cramps. i wish them a strange town and the last tampon. I wish them no 7-11. i wish them one week early and wearing a white skirt. i wish them one week late. later i wish them hot flashes and clots like you wouldn't believe. let the flashes come when they meet someone special. let the clots come when they want to. let them think they have accepted arrogance in the universe, then bring them to gynecologists not unlike themselves.
Copyright ©1991 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted from Quilting: Poems 1987-1990