Observations on Fatherhood

National Poetry Month Day 9

Johnathan does not allow people to curse around his sons.

So,
instead of sh—, I say Sheraton.
Instead of fu—. I say, Farrakhan.
Instead of da—, I say dang.

I used to complain, to myself,
like, don’t they hear curse words anyway?
And what is really PG nowadays?
I can’t remember the last time, I watched a cartoon without
My mind, slipping into the gutter.
The garbage we let our boys eat,
rots them sooner than necessary.
and kids, can barely be kids, in a world
that wants them to be adults too fast.
The internet moves faster than lightning
and they are forced to catch it in a bottle,
Johnathan wants to raise his boys slow,
at their age,
not any faster than they need to be.