The women said, Good luck, you’re stuck. The men said, But what about my career? Their closets were full of suits and freshly ironed shirts and proper ties that longed to be tied, and time, how it flew, they were swollen and sick and waddling like ducks, and holy hell if they weren’t leaking milk and oh my god the pain and then the crying, the constant crying, and the cost would it go on forever? Food, diapers, a room to put it in, someone to care for it. Help, they hollered, Help! This baby business has got to stop.

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Linda Lowe’s chapbook of poems, “Karmic Negotiations” was published by Sarasota Theatre Press. Her stories and poems have appeared in Eunoia Review, Beatnik Cowboy, Outlook Springs, and others.