Near the horizon, beyond the wordy plain
of the flattened book on my belly,
I watch the bedroom doorknob
convulsing like the final sunrise,
awaiting the sudden explosion of my son,
who’s steeped in boiling determination,
and is done when the button
I consciously pushed before reading
pops, indicating his internal temperature
is ready to mingle with mine.

Selected byRaymond Huffman
Image credit:AI-generated by Open Arts Forum
Rich Glinnen

Best of the Net nominee, Rich Glinnen, has had his poetry featured on Rich Vos’s and Bonnie McFarlane’s podcast My Wife Hates Me, and is a mainstay at the Nuyorican Poets Café. His work can be read in various print and online journals, as well as on his Tumblr and Instagram pages. He currently has two cats, two kids, and one wife.