Real poetry from the heart.

What works here is the plainness. You don’t overdecorate the feeling, and that makes the turn toward the child feel even stronger. The repetition of the forest, jungle, and desert gives the whole thing a lost, circling exhaustion, then suddenly everything narrows into one human moment.

The lines about the hospital are especially good because they stay awkward in the right way. “Sang all the lame songs / Smiled all the dumb smiles / Held your hand like a fool” feels real. No polished parenthood myth, just a man getting broken open by love and knowing it.

And that ending does exactly what it needs to do. Simple, direct, no grand speech. After all that wandering, “You are my exit” carries the whole poem…Thanks for sharing!