Photo by Alexis Rhone Fancher
Unsolicited Advice To A Facebook Mom
Stop plastering the site with photos
of your strapping boy on the cliff
of manhood, pitching a no-hitter,
practicing guitar,
don’t publicize his tuxedo’d beauty
posing with his prom date,
or family jaunts to look at colleges for the fall.
Better to shield him from happenstance,
mistaken identity, the evil eye;
protect him from what you won’t imagine:
a drive-by.
a street race.
an overdose.
a dare.
Pass an egg above his body while he’s sleeping.
Make the mano fico over him with your fist.
Sew small mirrors into his clothes to reflect misfortune.
Tie a red string around his wildness.
When someone gives him a compliment, spit over your shoulder three times.
Then touch wood.
Stop flaunting your boy’s shining face,
his sweetness, how he still
lets you kiss him goodnight.
Listen to me:
Like you, I was once besotted.
Don’t tempt the gods.
Previously published in Literary Mama.
Alexis Rhone Fancher is the author of How I Lost My Virginity to Michael Cohen and other
heart stab poems, (2014), State of Grace: The Joshua Elegies, (2015), and Enter Here
(2017). She is published in The Best American Poetry 2016, Rattle, Slipstream, Hobart, Cleaver,
The MacGuffin, and elsewhere. Her photographs are published worldwide. A multiple Pushcart
Prize and Best of The Net nominee, Alexis is poetry editor of Cultural Weekly.
Find her at: www.alexisrhonefancher.com
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