Some Parents

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 Some Parents


Wake up early
to pack lunches.
This parent wakes up early
to write poems.

Some people hustle
through the shower,
the morning chores, to score
on perfect mornings a few quiet moments
to drink their protein shake while they
check the ESPN app in 
the quiet dark. 

This person starts all leisure,
saves the hustle for later.
Let’s her coffee grow cold
whiles she is surfing the web
of her thoughts. Her only morning
“chores” before the kids are up:
are toast, warm beverage,
pen, pages, poem.

It must look the same to them
at first when the kids are up:
A parents face in the glow
of this blue light at dawn.
But what comes next looks
so completely different: both
flawed, perfection shattered, 
giving way to the unique kaleidoscope 
the kids might call “home.

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