Who is the father or husband in the poetry collection, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth?

The fathers in the collection are portrayed negatively, for the most part. Most of them have left their wives and children, while some are rapists or abusers. They are sources of pain for the mothers, and of confusion for their children. Many of the husbands are unfaithful to their wives. In poems like "Fire," "Your Mother's First Kiss," "Birds," and "The Kitchen," husbands and fathers are violent and/or unfaithful, and not to be trusted.

At other times, such as in "Grandfather's Hands" or "Snow," the man is kind and loving, and does not harm his wife or child.