My children all have different fathers.
Mom's prolific, blowzy, loose.
My children all have different mothers.

Bikers in their bad-ass leathers,
clerics, mystics, Vulcan, Zeus:
my children all have different fathers.

Moods are like unstable weathers,
masks come in and out of use:
my children all have different mothers.

All those mothers! All those others:
bedroom sounds of bliss, abuse.
My children all have different fathers.

Bride of seven bastard brothers,
dreamer, hooker, clerk, recluse.
My children all have different mothers.

Motley brood, they share each other's
scandal as I reproduce.
My children all have different fathers.
My children all have different mothers.

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Kate Bernadette Benedict's "lovechildren" are the imaginary kind; she has been married for 27 years! Her collection of poetry, Here from Away, was Editor's Choice in the Philadelphia Inquirer in February 2006. Kate serves as a moderator at Eratosphere, the web poetry forum, and recently launched an online magazine, Umbrella: A Journal of Poetry and Kindred Prose.
Websites: Kate's home page
Umbrella
 

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autumn 2006 | kaleidowhirl