“To My Pregnant Belly” by Tatiana Lopez

I look at my belly in the mirror, swollen to the size of a basketball at seven months pregnant . . .

“The Clown Nose” by Stephanie Laterza

“The kids are full of sugar,” Martin’s teacher announces at pickup time. “They had cupcakes for Kyle’s birthday.”

I suppose this explains why my son and his toddler cohorts are roadrunning around the classroom and catapulting off the low leather couches . . .

“Veinte-y-dos” by Robert Arellano

All InTur would rent them was a Lada. Carlos was struggling with a sticky clutch when the tunnel’s sickening yellow glow exploded into the hostile glare of a Havana afternoon . . .

“Inspiration” by C. Mundie

“Will you stop swearing?” yelled the father . . .

“The Importance of Being Naked” by Samuel Murphy

As a father, I don’t believe I have yet had my finest hour—and as a father of four little girls, I doubt I ever will. It’s not that I haven’t gently wiped away a tear or two, or bandaged a skinned knee, or made my share of macaroni and cheese and peanut butter sandwiches. I have. But it’s out in public where I mostly fall down . . .

“Little Bear’s Apgar Score” by Caroline Bock

The baby is beautiful, but then isn’t every baby?

But it’s not really beautiful. Its face is red, and its head is oversized, swollen, and dripping with newborn hair and blood . . .

“Peter and the Wolves” by Rion Amilcar Scott

The tractor-trailer lay dead, an overturned behemoth in the roadside brush, its refrigerated guts split open and littering the highway with frozen wolf carcasses . . .

“For Me” by Stephanie Laterza

My son Martin is still learning to grasp the concepts of you and me . . .