Separation Anxiety

Old television shows are so charming: All the women are stupid, or worse; The men full of knowing; even fatherly Their real careers, protecting the hapless women: Edith, clueless; Lucy, bawling; Marilyn, childlike. Bicycle repairing, inventive male stereotypes abound Sometimes in real life it is exactly the same But occasionally roles, or even genders, can reverse: Now and then one sex becomes so dependent Upon the other, while trying to maintain At least the appearance of individuality That should the other one attempt to separate From the union The needy one feels it necessary To demonstrate their sovereignty By murder; even if their only such act The results follow them Everywhere they go Their reputation ever precedes them Nobody ever sees The motivation, the hollowness, The fear of being abandoned. Even your worst nightmare of a violent prisoner Described the idea of being released from jail Like being a tiny little sailboat Tossed about helplessly by an uncontrollable sea When parole boards convene, the mean get meaner To avoid the one truly terrifying spectre: being free At least one knows all the rules in captivity's zoo.