by Deb Myers
On TV a man “splained”
falling fertility rates
citing statistics
average output equals 1.5 babes
.6 shy of the replacement rate needed
to keep the population steady
like women are machines
underperforming
uteri transforming raw materials
egg and sperm
into finished product
in insufficient volume
underbabied
he babbled
shortly before
his boss "blinked"
Deb Myers spent her career helping companies create and improve technology products. She has left the business and technical writing world behind, and now writes poetry from her home in coastal Maine.