I went to my room
to read a book. Mother
said if I didn’t go back
and play with my sister,
I was in danger of becoming
anti-social. And once I started
becoming opposed to one thing,
there was a tendency to become
against everything. She said
once put into motion an object
doesn’t stop until it meets
resistance. She was getting
tired of being my resistance.
It wasn’t good for the mother/son relationship.
That’s why she was training
my father to become more of a resistor.
| Hal Sirowitz is the author of four books of poetry, commencing with Mother Said (Crown) and ending with Father Said (Soft Skull press). He has had work in The Bellevue Review and The Manhattan Review. |