Ode to a Lone Sperm by Jayne Martin

Eager little swimmer, perhaps my competitive nature comes from you

who didn’t get the memo that fertilization was not my father’s intent

Content as he was to have my mother all to himself, but you

you failed to notice your brethren sperm treading water, not even trying

Trying to tell you to ease up little fella, this guy’s just going through the motions

motions where emotions would never bloom, and in your haste to win the race a child growing

in the shadow of his withholding, a child always wondering why.

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Jayne Martin is a recipient of Vestal Review’s VERA award for flash fiction. Her collection of microfiction, “Tender Cuts,” published by Vine Leaves Press is available now. “The Daddy Chronicles – Memoir of a Fatherless Daughter” is forthcoming from Whiskey Tit Books in spring 2022. www.jaynemartin-writer.com Twitter: @Jayne_Martin