Like so many other things in my life
Of socially delayed development the
Parental quagmire of dropping me off
To college was really dropping me off
I was a townie at Carroll to graduate
School in my parents’ driveway
As I loaded my stuff into a fellow
Student’s car who would drive us both
To Bloomington Indiana now that I’ve
Seen the process from both
Ends of the bridge I can state
Reliably the feeling parents get of
The child finally breaking away
A complete delusion you really lost
Them during the application process
Or before when they first told you they
Were really looking forward to their
Eighteenth birthday when society itself
Took a position against you on their
Independence the tearful hug is a ritual
For your benefit not theirs they may
Walk with you back to the car
To see if they emptied everything out
Typically they have this is ritual remember
Another last hug receive your urging
To call or write in my time I’m
Not sure what kids do today
I would hope hourly texts taper off
As they bury themselves in procedures
Books booze boys girls and sin
The cord which supposedly was cut
In the delivery room should not have
Reattached if it has you were doing
Something wrong hobbling their step
If you were doing it right your kid’s
Had numerous chances to fly on his or
Her own music camp in Michigan
Boy Scouts in New Mexico our first
Two were borrowed by friends in
New Rochelle who flew them
At age eight and nine to New York
To see if they our friends had
Parental moxie before unleashing
Really dangerous sperm to
Make one of their own suffice to say
They had a daughter in the year following
Perhaps our two pushed their envelope
By all reports they performed
Superbly which if true was not a
Realistic test of parental stresses
Whether you make them the old way
Or adopt children should come with
Papers that spell out carefully you
Get to hold them for only a few years
If you’re good and they’re lucky
Then you must let them go even if
You think you’ve still got years
Because they let go long before
They’ll be with their friends and
Their life before your car
Leaves the parking lot
c. J.S.Manista, 2015
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