All you wanted was to sit quietly
under the table with your dad’s copy
of The Decline and Fall of the American Dollar
the 1974 edition
with the questions on the cover
like Is Inflation Out of Control?
and Should you Convert to Gold?
though you didn’t seem rattled
even though you spent a long time
on the chapter about The Coming Crash
and it was only when we tried to get you
to poo in the potty
which is why you were
under the table
in the first place
but you wanted to do it
in your diaper
which everyone agrees
is weird but normal
and you thrashed around
crying and protesting
so we bribed you with cookies
and promised you glory
in the form of phone calls
to boast to family
and it worked
you sat on your potty
and did your thing
asking me politely
half-way through
if I would read from the chapter
on two-tier markets
laughing and making me repeat
over and over
the part about
the nest of rascals.