Today my new book will arrive,
in a big cardboard box,
green covered and filled with my life.
I’m anticipating this event like a baby left
on the doorstep.  How long I’ve awaited
this day–nine months at least, an appropriate
time for the birth of a child.  Though the poems
took years to create.

My baby’s almost here and what will I do
with her, yearning to be worthy of this life,
My DNA in print.  There’s nothing
like seeing it in final form, in the flesh
so to speak, to hold it, to know
it’s real, a tangible being to leave behind
with my distinctive thumbprint.