Editor's note: Further discussion of this poem can be found in a blog post by AJN senior editor Sylvia Foley: http://wp.me/prthD-1by.

I read the poem "Lessons" (Art of Nursing, May) in disbelief.

A man who tosses popcorn at his sleeping wife's open mouth while his daughters watch is teaching them that it's funny to disrespect their mother, all while he "illustrates the humor of the self / the way no textbook ever could." The poem notes that the mother works to fulfill her roles as a wife, mother, and student. The daughters giggle and beg him to stop tossing popcorn at their mother, but he continues. So the "prankster" father is teaching his daughters what's funny-rather than teaching them that he could be a partner to his wife, assisting her, so that she's not so tired that she falls asleep as soon as she sits down. Parents are role models for their children. What are these daughters learning?

As a nurse, wife, mother, and grandmother, I didn't find the poem funny or worthy of being published in AJN.

Linda Grimsley DSN, RN

Sylvester, GA