Popular Poems for and About Sons

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 ...

I know when we found the coins to scrape together
to put you on that flight you would
have the time of your life
the snippets of the man you will become
touching at the corners of your eyes
when you coached your sisters soccer team at 13
and even now when your walk through the yard
the little ones treat you like a rockstar
and they brag that
you
you with the smart mouth and foul language
you who we have seen naked and cold
and broken and scared
are their hero

and my daughters brag about you
being...