boys

because i had a daughter before my son, for most of my life as a mother, there was either a majority of estrogen in the house (mother + daugher + father) or an equal amount of estrogen and testosterone (mother + daughter + father + son). now, however, my daughter is in california, and the household hormone balance has shifted. now it is two boys and one girl. and so we make things like this. stacking flat rocks as high as they will go without falling, and by-the-by imitating the shape of a phallus. we do that when we are not wrestling, throwing food at each other, swearing like longshoremen, smelling like a horse barn, missing the garbage can with three-pointers that we do not later pick up, leaving dishes on side tables, leaving clothes on the floor, leaving bait in the refrigerator, leaving wet clothes in the washing machine, tossing recyclables into the garbage, plastic into the glass pile, and glass into the plastic pile. and we will not discuss the bathroom at all. but every once in a while, i get a sleepy sixteen-year-old boy who puts his head on my lap and asks for a head rub, and then slowly falls asleep, and all, for the most part, is forgiven.

cairn of beach tumbled roof tiles from sète