After.Mom

Kati Fuchs

 

Your mom

Goes to bed

Probably

Before 12

A.M.

 

Today

One minute ago

At 11:03

A.M.

I wondered

What does

A.M.

Stand for?

 

I crossed my room

Swiftly stepping over my vacuum,

Until I found myself

Staring at myself

In the mirror

Talking to myself

Saying,

“It stands for

After Mom”

 

And I laughed

At myself

With myself

Looking in the eyes

Of myself

In the mirror.

 

But seriously,

That would make sense.

 

Moms go to bed early

They are drained.

So most likely

Barely any moms

Are up past

12 After.Mom.

 

Only

Strange

Things happen

In the hours of the After Mom.

 

In a relationship

They say

Nothing good ever happens

After 10 P.M.

Which bleeds into

The After Mom.

 

Assignments are always due

Before the After Mom

Before 12 After.Mom.

Because if

Your mom

Knew about your procrastination

Oh buddy

Get ready.

 

Less light is seen

Less energy on the streets

Less rational thinking

In the hours of the After Mom.

 

The world shuts down

In the hours of the After Mom.

Who else has that sort of control

On a world so resistant to good things

In a world desiring to be so radically unbound

And yet

We fall victim again

To the magic of “Mom”