Their husbands sit on airplanes
fencing with laptops,
shoot golf on Saturday mornings,
daydream themselves NFL stars
on plasma screens
Mothers now, they know they
will never win beauty pageants –
Ken is just a doll –
or reign as homecoming queens,
figure skate in the Olympics,
star on the balance beam,
pose on magazine covers
One way or another,
like it or not,
come hell or high water,
how much it costs
or anyone who dares
stand in their way,
their daughters will