poem
Volume 25, Number 2

The English Teacher Gets a Lesson in Inference
The Haven House for Homeless Women and Children, Monmouth County, New Jersey

You got any kids? Dionna asks.
          No, I say, I don’t have any kids.

You ever been pregnant?
          I don’t have any kids, so …

That ain’t the question
          that I asked you,
she says.

Then she folds her arms across her chest
          and waits for me to answer.


—Lauren Schmidt