Moms and Dads link arms;
a meshed net that endures natural disaster
and contains ignorant daughters –
comparing glass lips and bronzed cheekbones –
and sons who waste the earliest hours
neglecting human nature;
reiterating parasites birth defects chronic illness symptoms of skin cancer causes of death.

Thriving a yellow brick road away from sharp elbows and shoulders,
Summer ripens a young couple's taste buds to cherry sorbet,
and flowers with fate to follow
blossom as though they are not fearful at all.

Knuckles clench together,
then she's cooed she's pretty enough and he's assured he's intelligent enough.
The lies harmonize a song not a single child is tone deaf to.
It's jazz
in a wide,
in an empty,
in an icicle-punctured flower garden
where hummingbirds perch at night.