I try not to be too hard on myself
as a parent,
to let the gnaw
of regret near my heart
or assume that everyone else
has it figured out
but if I hired a parenting coach
they would undoubtedly
encourage me to practice
“my late game”
for it is here where I am vanquished
where I trip up
where I lose my cool
like today when my daughter
said she needed a few minutes
because Piggy had sprained his ankle
and she needed to wrap it up
I could have answered in many ways
but I was late
and before I could do the breathing thing
or the counting thing
or the kind mom voice thing,
I yelled right in Piggy’s scruffy little face
“stuffed animals don’t have ligaments”
which made us all cry
even Piggy
who only felt better
after I let him sit
right on the steering wheel
as I drove the side streets
to make up time.