a better answer

when you tell the ladies
at social services that
you want to adopt a child
they will ask you a great many
probing, personal questions

about your marriage
about your drug history
about your sex life

and then, at the end
of this verbal finger
up the wazoo, they
(meaning a young woman
in her twenties, fresh
out of college, with the
approximate life
experience of a salmon fry)
will say "what do you think
will change once
you have adopted a
child?"

the easy, glib answer
(the one you will give), is
"everything"

but the truer, more
confounding answer
is

"my ability to write
poetry will greatly
diminish, but my
ability to tell
anecdotes will
greatly increase."

put that down on
your form, kid