Could Have Said No

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 Could Have Said No


Bedtime goes from bad to 

worse. My younger set insist

we all sleep in my bed, and I’m smitten, 

Until the oldest stretches her squeals for more space,

From one end of the night to the next. 

~

Hope hits when the little one and I 

sneak to the other bed, yet vanishes shortly after

her nightmare wakes the whole house up,

again. We try, in “Mom’s bed.”

Everyone’s all elbows

~

and knees. They shout each other’s

name with the epithet “move!”

At ten minutes to five, the little one

~

and I call it quits, hit the coach. PBS sounds float up

in time with the steam from my coffee.

~

Another one is next, who sounds like defeat

when they announce they wet my bed. 


One in couch, one in the shower, now my third wakes,

~

demands YouTube, and breakfast,

~

like the breaking dawn.

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