Chosen family

my environmentalist friend calls me
a breeder

she’s one of those vocal ones
on child-free Facebook groups
sharing memes that poke fun at children
and articles tagged under “kids
as massive carbon footprint emissions”

she also says she loves
my daughter like her own
and we are her family

well I suppose that is what family is
not some namesake or blood-drawn thread
but the certainty of disliking
a piece of something
and loving it enough
to die for it

This was first published in The Alien Buddha’s The Buddha Gets Rejected 2 print anthology on February 14, 2023. You can purchase a copy here.