Fritz Ward
​

from BORN
 
        Once I was a man
        inside a woman.
        And then I was born.
 
        Once I was a man
        inside a woman
        and then you.

        Once I was man
        without you.
 
        Once a woman let me.
 
        Once I was you.
 
        Once I almost married
         a woman and her ocean­—​

         and all the fish that died
         between us.
 
        Once we almost gave you
         her name.
 
        Once upon a time is a poison
        worth learning.
 
        Once you were you
        who else could I be?




Fritz Ward is the author of Tsunami Diorama (The Word Works, 2017) and the chapbook Doppelganged (Blue Hour Press, 2011). His poetry has appeared in American Poetry Review, Best New Poets, The Adroit Journal, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. He works at Swarthmore College and lives just outside of Philadelphia.  




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