The Runaway Mommy
Laurie Koensgen
— after Margaret Wise Brown
I ’ d like to be a fly on the wall when you
Mom , if you become a fly on the wall I ’ ll become a giant fly swatter and aim for your shiny eyes .
You want me to be an ostrich , to just bury my head in the sand .
That ’ s a myth , you know . They ’ re really sucking up pebbles to grind their food because they don ’ t have teeth .
Maybe I ’ ll become a flowering crab …
Mixed metaphor . Bad apple !
I might as well talk to the cat . You don ’ t listen . I might as well howl at the moon .
If you start communing with the moon we ’ ll have you committed . Early . It ’ s bad enough when you sing full tilt with your earbuds in .
I ’ m not going to credit you when I ’ m famous .
Become a household word , Mom . I ’ ll still be your punctuation .
Sit down when you eat that carrot cake .
Have a bite . ( And so she did .)