Paternity Test(CPlatt) I show my dad my new winter coat,
I raise my arms and turn 360
so he can see the back too.
He unzips it and peers inside
like a cop patting down a felon,
inspecting the coat like he’s buying a horse,
checking the teeth and hooves,
and the zip-up pockets.

I hand him my printed stories and poems
he puts his reading glasses on
and I’m twelve years old again
and he’s helping me with my maths homework.
I never could get the hang of maths,
words not numbers always came more easily.
He likes my story as it has a beginning,
a middle, and end, but we disagree
if a word should be one word,
two words or hyphenated.

Then comes the real test,
two glasses and a bottle of single malt whiskey.
We sip the fiery liquor,
sighing in delight as our throats burn.
We clink glasses, cheers!
Now this we can agree on.

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