Momma Said Be Nice by Chris Kads

One Poem Only · Dec 8, 2025 · 2m

Momma Said Be Nice

Chris Kads

This poem was originally published in Blood+Honey Lit mag and is being republished with SHINE International Poetry Series.

You don’t expect to serve mashed potatoes and steak for breakfast.

Don’t expect to find urine in a tub

or to have sympathy

for the assaulter

who pissed in it.

I’ve learned

to let expectations fly

like ashes.

When the men retire

so do the rules

instilled by their mothers.

They’ll swim

in the deep end

of the pool,

tiptoe into the kitchen,

sneak a cookie

after bedtime.

I know now

that two things

can be true at once.

That the mush

can be…