Popular Poems for and About Parents

Your parents have a problem and you live in constant pain
Your atmosphere is darkness as you begin to go insane
And the way you're going, you'll turn out the same

You hear the words of wisdom as you practice what they tell
You follow your parents teachings, as they threaten you to hell
And the way you're going, you'll turn out the same

My advice to you, is to follow what's in your heart
For if you don't, you'll be finished before you ever start
And the way you're going, you'll turn out the same

I’m not sure when it all began,
if time drew its sharp blade
and split apart the fine string
tying them together,
or maybe none was ever made.

But since the first blink I can remember,
lying in the dark,
I could hear the silence creeping
through the cracks in the walls
from their bed chamber.

And when the sun came through,
I could then see the regret behind their eyes,
as if two strangers shared
a roof and a contract
with no rubber stamp to seal their choice.

(I haven't been able to write in so long. But this came this morning. I'm fumbling in the dark, and I can't write consistently well anymore--and the metaphors are all wrong--but, this is what came. And Varley, I love you so very much.)

ON GRANDMAS AND GALAXIES

for Varley

Your tiny hands slowly unravel the purple yarn I was planning on using, along with the orange, to learn to crochet with. I wanted to make you a blanket of stars but my own hands are not practiced enough and it seems I have given up for now. I am wanting more and more to make you things. To...

once we were warriors filled
with fierce pride
banging our fists to chest
we would shake with the need to bleed
or make bleed
we were men that knew the language of protection
we were men that knew the language of love
toward our family
that knew how to nurture
our hard curbed by their soft
 
but  
warped by booze
violence turned inward
we directed hate at ourselves
letting it spill over our loved ones
and our pride

died  

became a curse  
cheap piss and beer breath ...

3/30

Seeing you in my dreams
Never gets any easier

There’s a different kind of heartache
That comes with this kind of grief

I miss you everyday
And think of all the things you're not here for

Some days are just harder
Where everything reminds me of you

Maybe it's the cloudy weather
And the chill that's in the air

But today, I can’t seem to stop thinking
Of how much I could use one of your hugs