"The One-Child Policy," A Poetry Post

If you got at least one child
who is
tall enough to
stand on a
stepping stool and
reach the
kitchen sink and the
spigot,
you don't really need no
dishwasher since
you done
probably
washed a hundred
dishes in front of that baby
and
demonstrated
efficient
dish cleaning.

If you got at least
one rake and
one child
who is
strong enough to
rake leaves
in the yard,
you probably don't
need no
landscaper since
you done,
probably,
raked a hundred leaves on
three Saturdays and
demonstrated
good leaf raking.

If you got at least
one broom and
one child with
enough sense to see when
dirt in on the floor
in your house,
you probably don't
have to spend
every minute
cleaning up crumbs and
tracked in sand and grass from
outside since
you done,
probably,
swept a hundred dust pans
full of
trash and all that
up in his or her view and
he or she can
sweep
just as good as
you.

And if you got one child
tall enough and
strong enough and
sensible enough that
don't wash up and
don't rake and
don't sweep at all,
you might not have one child.

What you might have
is what the elders called
a problem.

-T. D. James-Moss