"All My Pretty Ones" (3)

Part 3

I see more than a few times now

Some children sitting in the front

On mothers’ laps, while fathers plough

Their cars so fast and fierce they grunt

Through traffic – oh, they need to see

They frankly risk fatality! 

Families must be schooled not to have any of their children sit in the front seat.  It’s dangerous enough, when parents speed or drive recklessly.  But even in a minor crash, the airbags deploy to cushion the driver and the front passenger from slamming into the wheel, dashboard or windscreen.  However, these very airbags can kill a small child, because they deploy almost explosively.

From "All My Pretty Ones," Part 3 © Ron Villejo

Note. I wrote this four-part poem in March 2009, when I was living in Dubai.  It was an accounting of things I saw parents do, in relation to their children, which made me shudder.  The title, “All my Pretty Ones,” comes from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” uttered by the shocked Macduff when he heard that Macbeth had his wife and children killed.