Preparing Our Daughter for College~ By Michael Maul

Before our daughter went to college
we had a different talk.
Part One (held long ago)
was about not getting pregnant
and hitting the books.

This one, Part Two,
focused on not getting
raped or killed.

At its end, my wife placed on the table
with two survival tools:
one a lipstick tube-sized
canister of pepper spray;
the other a metal whistle.

“What are these for?”
our daughter asked.

“One is to get you out of danger,
when you spray it in a boy’s eyes.
And if that doesn’t work
the other is to summons help
while you try to wait it out,”
my wife replied.

In silence we all stared at the table
where survival tools remained.
Which now, even to me,
looked suddenly inadequate and absurd.

Then tears began
down a tortured face
as she pushed away the whistle,
and the mace,
in the direction of my wife.

“Its too late” she whispered.
as she struggled momentarily to rise,
then found her balance and
a hurried stride to leave the room.

In the moment
as she walked away
I felt more helpless,
than any day
since she was born.


Author Bio:
Michael Maul, a 2019 “Best of the Net” nominee, lives in Bradenton, Florida. His poems have previously appeared in numerous literary publications and anthologies. In 2018 he authored Dancing Naked in Front of Dogs, a full-length collection of poetry. In 2019 he published his first chapbook, Birds Who Eat French Fries.
He is a graduate of the Ohio University creative writing program.