TARA JEAN BERNIER
yEAH, THANK YOU FOR THAT BLANK STARE,
that one you gave when you realized
what you let go from your mouth.
Oh yes, that was ignorance defined.
You ask, “How do you do it,
don’t you miss them when they’re away from you?
I couldn’t do it.”
Miss my sons? But it’s only been two hours
since I’ve seen them last.
Who is taking care of them?
Their father.
do it like mommies do.”
Look—the mama wars are absolutely
the best way to sell a magazine.
Sure, pop a kid who looks older than three
on a disembodied tit, and make it glossy for Newsweek
and the world will break. The fuck. Down.
Or, tell women they can’t have it all.
Put it on the cover of the Atlantic
and watch every morning talk show come up
with a new guilt-inducing headline. Yes, they sell magazines by stoking
the fires of the Mommy Wars.
And okay, I’ll be honest,
I love a good fight—but Bitch,
you’re not worth my time.
Yes, I am mother of two—
mother of two sons—
mother of two sons, aged five and three—
named Kai and Keegan.
Mother of two.
And yes, I work full-time,
and advise four clubs,
and stay late after school,
and, why yes,
I am on the board of that nonprofit.
And yes, I go out a couple of times a week.
Yes, without my husband.
Yes, sometimes I drink.
Shall I dig that Scarlet ‘A’ out of my pocket?
Or do you keep one on hand,
for women like me?
No, you’re right—
I’m not home to pick them up from school.
Their sitter picks them up.
But yeah, she’s better at hide-and-seek than I am.
No, I didn’t can/preserve/freeze this year’s
garden’s organic, vitamin-rich kale,
you Happy Valley guru.
I did, though, make a boozy, rum-peach jam
that makes everyone drool.
See the cookies,
I bake long into the night,
we will eat those for breakfast on Saturday mornings,
while we watch Power Rangers.
And speaking of sacrifice—
Who writes this shit?
And have you met my boys?
Ages three and five?
You know what they like best about me?
That the characters in their books that I read
have voices better than their favorite cartoons on TV.
They love that they
are never afraid of the dark,
because I know where to buy all the zombie-proof roofing and siding.
And when my son, aged three, asked,
“Could you teach me how to be a superhero?”
And I replied, “I’m not sure I know all the rules.”
My son aged five jumped in to say,
“Yeah you do, Mama—don’t you remember?”
“How would I remember, Kai?”
“Silly mama—Because you are one.”
See, the Mommy Wars are bullshit,
because we all just love differently.
I love with super powers.
Super powers fueled by a sweet case of ADHD,
and a twelve-pack of Magic Hat.
My cape is made from the possibility
I want to show my boys,
from the worlds they should
grow to explore.
And you know what?
Hand over that ‘A’
because it stands for
Awesome, or Amazing,
or Able, or Absolutely cooler than you.
Oh right, I wasn’t going to engage
in this Mommy War.
Because I am mother of two,
mother of two boys,
mother of two boys, ages five and three.
who never stop,
who tell knock-knock jokes,
who drive their mother to drink,
just a little bit.
And as that mother,
I would swallow hot coals
to make sure they were all right.
Mother of two boys, aged five and three,
named Kai and Keegan,
carved out of my heart.
Mother of two.