Virgil, Hey
       

Ah me! I find myself middle-aged divorced lost
In the forest dark of my failures mortgage & slack breasts
It's hard to admit nobody wants to do me anymore
Not even Virgil will lead me down to his basement rental

Take a look at my firstborn son
Who put me on three months' bed rest
For whom I bled on the emergency room floor
Who declaims his device sucks
Stabs holes in his bedroom wall
Complains his ATV's too slow
Who plots to run away to join terrorists
He'd rather die than do math

And the little one ripped
From my womb in the surgery room
I pierced my nipples to unblock her milk
Who escapes from her car seat en route
Howls in rage cause her cake isn't pretty
Writes "No Mom" on her door with a Sharpie
Who says, "No fence but you're kinda fat"
She'd rather die than wear underpants

Virgil, hey! Send me down
To the second circle of hell where I belong
With those whom Love separated from Reason
Where an infernal hurricane will blast me
Hither & thither with no hope ever no comfort
Rather than drive these two to school this morning
And suffer forever with the other mothers

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Copyright © 2021 Camille Guthrie All rights reserved
from Diamonds
BOA Editions
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission