"Ave Maria" by Frank O'Hara (1960)

Mothers of America

                                     let your kids go to the movies!

get them out of the house so they won’t know what you’re up to   

it’s true that fresh air is good for the body

                                                                             but what about the soul   

that grows in darkness, embossed by silvery images

and when you grow old as grow old you must

                                                                            they won’t hate you   

they won’t criticize you they won’t know

                                                                            they’ll be in some glamorous country   

they first saw on a Saturday afternoon or playing hookey


they may even be grateful to you

                                                            for their first sexual experience   

which only cost you a quarter

                                                       and didn’t upset the peaceful home   

they will know where candy bars come from

                                                                                 and gratuitous bags of popcorn   

as gratuitous as leaving the movie before it’s over

with a pleasant stranger whose apartment is in the Heaven on Earth Bldg   

near the Williamsburg Bridge

                                                       oh mothers you will have made the little tykes

so happy because if nobody does pick them up in the movies   

they won’t know the difference

                                                         and if somebody does it’ll be sheer gravy   

and they’ll have been truly entertained either way

instead of hanging around the yard

                                                                 or up in their room

                                                                                                     hating you

prematurely since you won’t have done anything horribly mean yet   

except keeping them from the darker joys

                                                                             it’s unforgivable the latter   

so don’t blame me if you won’t take this advice

                                                                                      and the family breaks up   

and your children grow old and blind in front of a TV set

                                                                                                        seeing   

movies you wouldn’t let them see when they were young