Tanya Olson

Water Cycle 

As a husband I would struggle 
I would struggle as a husband 
The struggle of the husband 
like the struggle of the rain 
Always falling Never rising 
Unless as steam Unless as changed 

How does rain return to clouds 
Homework question Kitchen table 
Ask your father says the mother 
He hunts He farms He comes He goes 
It seems like something he should know 

Do you remember Remember mother 
How she held you How you dangled 
Remember father How he knew things 
How he left How he came home 

How would I know says the father 
Home again Not yet leaving 
After dinner Meat then coffee 
The time for questions Sounds like science So spelling words Test tomorrow 
Antique Robber Davenport 
Let us know what you find out 

Husbands lucky Fathers lucky 
First they’re here Then they’re there 
Condensation Evaporation 
Liquid Gas Then liquid again 
Rain 101 Should have learned it 
Must have been absent from school 

The water cycle has seven stages 
Runoff Storage Evaporation 
Condensation Precipitation 
Interception Infiltration 
Percolation Transpiration
Transpiration is exhalation How plants lose water 
Why plants need rain 
I too would dangle if a mother If a mother children would sway As a husband I too would struggle If a husband I would fail to stay

Tanya Olson is a lecturer in English at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She is the author of three books of poems: Born Backwards (YesYes Books, 2024, a finalist for the Indies Book of the Year); Stay (YesYes, 2019); and Boyishly( YesYes Books, 2013, winner of a 2014 American Book Award). She has won a Discovery/Boston Review prize, a Lambda Literary Fellowship, a Pride Poets Fellowship from the Arts Club of Washington, and inclusion in Best American Poems.