poem of the day 07.16.10

thinning the herd

they are talking about
neighborhood kids

she says that she hates the summer
because the neighborhood kids
take over the street

they don’t look, she says
do you know how many of them
i almost hit with my car?

i stop the car and curse them out

i ask them
don’t you want to live?

but they just curse me back

it’s like they don’t care, she says

the other ladies agree with her
they all have horror stories
from summer streets

kids riding bikes without helmets
diving into the shallow end of the pool
setting off illegal fireworks

skateboarding for goodness sake

skateboarding!

you should let them go, i say

the women look up at me because
i typically don’t talk at lunch

let them go if they want to take chances
any loss of life will just help thin out the herd

thin out the herd? they all say in unison

how could you say
a thing like that?
kids are so innocent

inside of every kid is an adult waiting to happen
i tell them

but they wave me off

think i’m the crazy one

they go back to talking

this time about all of the new shows
on television this summer

apparently the cable schedule is packed
with shows that
you just can’t miss.