If They Take the Kids Away From Me, Maybe I’ll Sleep the Night

I am so tired
I can’t keep up.
The food, the drink, the crumbs
To be swept from the broken linoleum.
“Read me a story; no I won’t eat
Bananas; pull the car
Over and get the fruit
Out of my lunchbox before
I scream loud enough to
Break your eardrums!”
The creditor will take my check
Over the phone, payable tomorrow
And I’m too frightened
To listen to my recorded balance.
The eye twitch that started
When the Egyptian gunman sprayed
Bullets at the El Al gate,
Shows up now
At the slightest provocation:
Bee’s nest in the shed, Railroad
Ties rotting and a danger.
The cat with the gash
In its head is on its own
And mommy cannot make a third
For Candyland.
She’s asleep baby darlings,
Face to the back of the couch
Every single goddamned day of the week.