All the talk is about how
they are of you
but not you
a body and a head
a mind of their own
but this is only partly true
they come out
connected
a cord
a puppet’s string
I don’t mean to say
I control him
exactly
but I didn’t expect
this dominion I have
over his life
my choices
chiseling away at his experience
and there isn’t time to consider each one
like a chess player
six moves out
I am swift
hunks of clay
dropping from the sides of his life
as I decide this and that
his little body so unaware
of what I delete
before he even knew it
to want.