Back to Issue 4

You'll Make a Great Little Poem by AnnMarie Kolakowski

You'll make a great little poem,
if you eat all your vegetables--
eat them so your idioms
grow big and strong.
And maybe one day
you'll be clever enough
to rebel against my syntax--
you'll run on, wiggle your
hanging clauses and giggle at me:
"Just try to keep up!" 
But until then, little one,
always hold my hand
and look both ways.
And pipe down a bit, please--
Mommy needs quiet so she
can prepare the brilliant
surprise climax
of your next line:

You'll make a great little poem one day,
I think.
But right now I just need you
to hold still long enough
for me to trim those extra syllables,
and make myself a drink.
That's right!  I'm your mother,
and whoever said a little vodka
was anything but fine?
It gives your mother a glowing, healthy rhyme!
So Mommy wants a stanza to herself.
What a crime!

And I wonder, is there ever
anywhere worth going,
that I don't turn around
and hail a taxi home in time?

Oh, what are you worried about?  Didn't I say
you're gonna make a great poem someday?
I'm sorry you aren't the brainchild of genius--
but you expect me to sit down
and force myself to set aside
all my dreams of being great,
and all the flaws I would deride,
and to think instead on what a splendid
poem you will be. 
For once, it would be nice to know
just what you think of me!

Don't cry now--I've stopped my rhyming, see?
The beauty of it is, I can never fool you,
but I must never cease to try.
And even if this is all just a big lie,
and you never find any nice diction to show
you're my baby, in proof or in spite--
you'll still make a great little poem,
if only
Mommy can do something right.