Tough Love

Tough Love

It’s before 7 on a Saturday morning, someone is stirring

No doubt, it’s my thirteen-year old

I’m ready to pounce

I’m ready to rip that screen right out of his hands

I manage to pause, surprising myself

There is no computer, no IPad, not a Kindle Fire in sight

Only a scrap of construction paper folded up like a house

with a peaking window holding up a 10-dollar bill

for his bro, Finn turns 10 today

He writes, “Poophole, happy birthday”

Later, he says “You know what?

“I used so much glue on my card for Finn,

and I told him I sneezed in it.”