Read Poem: VICIOUS CYCLE, by Marli Merker Moreira

Children scribble on doors,
Chair, sofa, and floor.
They annoy their parents.
Markers quaff their savings
For rainy days beauty,
And comfort.
They go on forever
With crayons and pens.
Toddlers have fun.
And they wet and soil
Mattress, sofa,
Favorite chair.

Wind sweeps the air.
Hundreds of moons
Traverse the skies,
And the scene
They reverse.

What to do with
Those Old Guys of now?
They dump into chairs,
And sofas.

It is high time for
Past-grown-up kids
Anger the babies of yore
With odors of diapers,
Spurt and all.

But what about those stains
—some remain—
On that mattress,
And scratches on the teak floor
Babies had ruined?

Low and behold,
The old angels forgot.

What to do with parents now?
Old grown-up kids
That slumber on chairs and sofas?
And the bins of used diapers
With scents of gloom?
What can those sweetie grown-ups do?

They had their bags packed.
One-two-one-two-one-two,
And they file for
The eviction parade.

One-two-one-two-one-two,
Bed, lamp, jammies, and pillow,
Moan and yawn:
Miles and miles run by the car windows.
The tires screech at the entrance of a building.
It is the sterilized shelter for rambling strangers.

Leftover parents make their final stop before they sleep.