It’s quiet outside.
Even the noisy kids are subdued.
The twins and their younger siblings
have not yet arrived to wreck
the early evening solitude.

Sadly the kids can be
as loud as their parents.
Sometimes it’s difficult to say
who creates more havoc:
the kids or their parents,

who make passive gestures
to silence the kids.
Parents let kids bicker,
hoping the brats wear themselves out.
But that never happens.

The best part of the evening chaos
is watching parents in denial
try to reel in their “perfect” children.
One father tried to escape his kids’ chaos,
but his wife caught him trying to abandon ship.

And the parents in #17B have given up
trying to quiet their triplets.
All the parents can do is look up
to the stars, hope for escape,
recall their own parents’ pleas for silence.
Karma is a bitch.

 

Janet Cormier is a painter, writes prose and poetry, and performs comedy. JC prefers different and original over pretty. She loves collecting stuff, but cleaning not so much. Janet also talks to strangers. A lot. Her column appears weekly on Oddball Magazine.