Listen – What?

[Doreen Peri]

Listen, we have to make some rules for going out and driving.
You can't just disregard me completely as if I don't exist.
You've disrespected me tonight and I'm not happy about it.
I'm pretty upset. You can't just live in the house and have no rules
or guidelines and stay out all night long. It's NOT right.
It's disrespectful to me because I won't be able to sleep.
This is my house, too, and I'm your mom.
We need to talk.

What? Are you talking to me?

Of course, I'm talking to you.
Who else would I be talking to?

OK, Mom. I'll be back.

[saw]

aah yes...the anxiety when kids learn to drive
and head out on their own....forget about sleeping

[sasha]

1 a.m.
the phone rings
half asleep I stumble down the hall
and pick up the receiver
"hullo?" I mumble
"dad?" she says
"first thing - I'm okay"
the adrenaline hits my brain
like a breaker on a cliff
while she tells a story
something about seeing a play
something about she and her mom
something about bringing a friend home
something about some drunken fool
running a red light
something about a near head-on
something or other
but the only words that register
the only ones that matter
are
"I'm okay"

[theirishsea]

Doreen's and Sasha's poems here do strike a nerve though my kids haven't been teenagers or young 20's for at least two decades.