I'm not much attached to this body,
it feels like it's on a short leash
while the brain drags it around
like a reluctant old dog.
Long cantankerous years
have pummeled it into a shape
it never used to own, never saw coming.
I am by no means special
we all acquire these 'special' parts,
that cling to us like limpets and lichen
many are visible only to the mind.
Tree's show their scars on the outside
internal excrescences run deeper.
Wasted landscapes never repopulated
are sutured integral with still verdant fields,
still workable earth
but we know
that vehicles this unwieldy
have no fail-safe switch
even if we could find it.
They watch him like a Broad-wing Hawk
In all his comes and goes
He invades their every thought
Bugs them to the bone
He delights in the slip and slide
Like a greased pig in their grasp
Thinking they've got him this time
But they had best not think so fast
They scandalize the scandals
Beat their chests and drums
Walking on a thin line
Hoping to nip him in the bud
He has them on a short leash
They bark at his command
All big dogs is what they think
Tails wagging on the right and left
Every now and then he tosses them
One or two Chicken Little bones
Where they run and scream the sky is falling
It's not like we were not warned
As he sits behind his desk
Plotting his next move
Donald Trump and the Media
....ain't that the truth
No more babies to make.
We're all done my wife says.
Get the scissors.
We have 3 of our own
All under 5,
4 total.
Why look so nostalgic towards babies
Tinier than my 11 month old?
The kid's truck-sized,
Like wielding slabs of marble about.
We're done,
He's heavy,
We're out.
It's just so terminating.
The era is over.
Watch the garden grow
With the ones we have.
Our family is finished.
Why am I sad about this?
Because they allow babies in taprooms
With a sign above that says...
DIAPER RASH
They took me out again
on a short leash
bag ready
just in case.
I had been trained
not to go
in the house,
to be subservient
to my masters,
repeat only
what I’d
been taught
regurgitate
the answers
sought.
They taught
I learned
by rote
and then……
they removed
the diaper
shook out all
my errant
thoughts,
patted my head,
let me
off leash.
I cleansed
my backside palate
“WHAT A LOAD!”
I fled - still flee -
the tortures that remain
lodged in my head.
John G. Lawless
4/5/2018
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