<div class="line">Don’t worry, this will end.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="line">One day, he will stop hitting you</div>
<div class="line">when he’s mad, his hands swatting</div>
<div class="line">at your face like a short-circuited robot.</div>
<div class="line">One day, he will stop throwing himself</div>
<div class="line">on the pale cement</div>
<div class="line">and thrashing his head like a punk rocker</div>
<div class="line">when you tell him, No.</div>
<div class="line">Someday, he will even stop running out the door</div>
<div class="line">every time he sees a pigeon</div>
<div class="line">bobbing its mangy head down the sidewalk,</div>
<div class="line">leaving you to spill your coffee</div>
<div class="line">and chase after him down the street,</div>
<div class="line">grabbing his shirt</div>
<div class="line">just before he steps</div>
<div class="line">into moving traffic.</div>
<div class="line">You probably won’t notice that he’s stopped.</div>
<div class="line">You’ll be too busy helping him trace</div>
<div class="line">his upper-case letters,</div>
<div class="line">playing game after game of Roshambo,</div>
<div class="line">and listening to his knock-knock jokes.</div>
<div class="line">You’ll be too busy answering his questions,</div>
<div class="line"><i>Mommy, Can I tell you something?</i></div>
<div class="line"><i>Mommy, Can I have gummy bears?</i></div>
<div class="line"><i>Mommy, Who was the first person on earth?</i></div>
<div class="line">You probably won’t remember</div>
<div class="line">how you thought that it would be easier</div>
<div class="line">when he turned three, but it wasn’t.</div>
<div class="line"><i>Why do they call it the terrible twos?</i></div>
<div class="line">You probably won’t remember</div>
<div class="line">until you see another mother struggling</div>
<div class="line">with her three-year-old son,</div>
<div class="line">her jaw tense, her hand clutching</div>
<div class="line">his arm too tight as he grabs</div>
<div class="line">her splintering blonde hair in his</div>
<div class="line">freakishly strong fist</div>
<div class="line">and pulls. Then you will remember</div>
<div class="line">how you wanted to escape</div>
<div class="line">and how you felt like it would never end.</div>
<div class="line">By then, your son will be standing still</div>
<div class="line">in line beside you, ordering an Iced Caramel Macchiato</div>
<div class="line">his large hands hanging at his sides.</div>
<div class="line">Only now you will remember</div>
<div class="line">him small in your lap,</div>
<div class="line">his hand tight around your finger,</div>
<div class="line">the other one pointing at a balloon,</div>
<div class="line"><i>Mommy, Boom!</i></div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/BrennerStarbucks.mp3"></audio></figure>

Complications

Digital Anthropologists Find Our Hashtags

To the Frustrated Mother in Starbucks with Her Three-Year-Old Son

<div class="line">I won’t preach about the rewards of motherhood.</div>
<div class="line">I won’t say it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.</div>
<div class="line">I won’t say it’s the best job I’ve ever had.</div>
<div class="line">I won’t say you’ll regret not having a child.</div>
<div class="line">I won’t say you’ll forget what life was like before.</div>
<div class="line">I won’t say it makes life worth living.</div>
<div class="line">What I will say</div>
<div class="line">is my son died.</div>
<div class="line">What I will say </div>
<div class="line">is I would still do it again. </div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/BrennerChildren.mp3"></audio></figure>

On War, Both Foreign and Domestic

Instructions

A Poem for Women Who Don’t Want Children

<p><em>Rattle</em> is proud to announce the winner of the 2013 Rattle Poetry Prize:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" alt="Roberto Ascalon" src="https://admin.rattle.com/rattle42/Ascalon.jpg" align="middle" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">“The Fire This Time”<br />
by<br />
<strong>Roberto Ascalon<em><br />
</em></strong><em>Seattle, WA</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">__________</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Finalists:</p>
<p align="center">“A Poem for Women Who Don’t Want Children”<br />
<strong>Chanel Brenner</strong><br />
<em>Santa Monica, CA</em></p>
<p align="center">“My Mother Told Us Not to Have Children”<br />
<strong>Rebecca Gayle Howell</strong><br />
<em>Lubbock, TX</em></p>
<p align="center">“Baby Love”<br />
<strong>Courtney Kampa</strong><br />
<em>New York, NY</em></p>
<p align="center">“What He Must Have Seen”<br />
<strong>Stephen Kampa</strong><br />
<em>Daytona Beach, FL</em></p>
<p align="center">“Man on Mad Anthony”<br />
<strong>Bea Opengart</strong><br />
<em>Cincinatti, OH</em></p>
<p align="center">“Laundry List”<br />
<strong>Michelle Ornat</strong><br />
<em>Elma, NY</em></p>
<p align="center">“Man on the Floor”<br />
<strong>Jack Powers</strong><br />
<em>Fairfield, CT</em></p>
<p align="center">“Basic Standards Test”<br />
<strong>Danez Smith</strong><br />
<em>St. Paul, MN</em></p>
<p align="center">“Who Breathed in Binders”<br />
<strong>Patricia Smith</strong><br />
<em>Howell, NJ</em></p>
<p align="center">“Of You”<br />
<strong>Wendy Videlock</strong><br />
<em>Grand Junction, CO</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>These eleven poems will be published in the Winter issue of <em>Rattle </em>this December. Each of the Finalists are also eligible for the $1,000 Readers&#8217; Choice Award, to be selected by entrant and subscriber vote (the voting period is December 1, 2013 &#8211; February 15, 2014).</p>
<p>Another nine poems were selected for standard publication, and offered a space in the open section of a future issue. These poets will be notified individually about details, but they are: Jacqueline Berger, Daniel Bohnhorst, Jackleen Holton, Sharon Kessler-Farchi, Michael Meyerhofer, Kathleen Nolan, Charlotte Pence, Sam Sax, and Timothy Schirmer.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who participated in the competition, which would not have been a success without your diverse and inspiring poems. We received a record 2,105 entries and well over 8,000 poems, and it was an honor to read each of them.</p>


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June 3, 2014A Poem for Women Who Don’t Want ChildrenChanel Brenner

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June 3, 2014A Poem for Women Who Don’t Want ChildrenChanel Brenner

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To the Frustrated Mother in Starbucks with Her Three-Year-Old Son by Chanel Brenner

2013 Rattle Poetry Prize Winners by Bea Opengart