Lines from the State-Required Divorced Parents Seminar
Divorce. No one wants to be there, so not here, either, at
The State-Required Divorced Parents Seminar. Before it begins,
Half those attending slump low as possible in cushy tablet-arm folding chairs.
The other half hyper-survey the room like prairie dogs. Not for danger,
For new mates, fresh burrows, I suppose, the ideal being
To expand community. Before we even get started,
Someone in our group mutters, “Given no choice but to attend,”—
No legal divorce papers if we don’t— “this seminar reeks of implication,
More, condemnation. It benefits the state most, not us.” If not the state,
At least benefits the contracted couple’s counselor that runs this seminar.
He stops passing out business cards (for his practice), states he applauds honesty,
But he wants to make it clear? “This seminar isn’t to say that
You’re wrong!” he says. “It’s critical you know that, but to be fair,
Great ideas, like many marriages, can be poorly tended to,
And then, relationships unchecked, sour. That isn’t and won’t be the case here.
This seminar is established and thoroughly proven to help stabilize families.”
If that’s the case, Why is this seminar taking place
In a technical college classroom doubling as a lab, and doubling again
As a fallout shelter, with a huge Periodic Table hanging on the wall
Behind the lectern, in which, at this distance, the elements’ defined boxes are apparent,
But the electron model potentials are too small to see? “If we’re being honest here,”
The counselor says, “this isn’t about you. It has to do, though,
With all of us.” Well, maybe that’s where we should begin, I think,
But the counselor has leaped to, “That one little detail
Our children most need to know; what is it?” Eyes in the room lock straight ahead;
Lips compress. Time has frozen. Electrons don’t jump rings and move closer
Or farther away. The science of attractions and splitting seizes. Love,
Contained in a box, is stable and safe, an answer no one here can offer.
*
Scott Withiam’s third book of poems, Waste Management Facility, was released by MadHat Press in late July 2025. He has also published two additional books of poems: Doors Out of the Underworld (MadHat Press) and Arson & Prophets (Ashland Poetry Press). His chapbook, Desperate Acts & Deliveries, won the Two Rivers Review Prize. His most recent poems and prose pieces can be found in Another Chicago Magazine, Barrow St., Diagram, On the Seawall, Rattle, and Tampa Review. Poems are forthcoming in Plume.
