Saturday, June 15, 2024

father's day

I'm just another white woman
who free-based cocaine in
a musty basement while
wearing my peasant dress.
"Don't let me do that again;
I like it too much." I said
to Darnell,  a felon sitting
next to me. At the time,
he seemed fatherly. 
My surprise when
he kept his word.

As a kid, Father's day 
was a strange holiday
people put in the way 
of my summertime fun.
At the time, I thought
I was the only one
in my class without 
a wonderful dad.
imagine those headlines:
     "First disappointing father
      found in Indiana. President
      to request full investigation."

His notable absence
was his greatest gift.
Strange fruits, the apples
of his eye, me and
an inconvenient half-sister
whose first name is all I know.
That and a handful of prison visits
so I know how to act 
for prison guard
and criminal alike
and how to barely flinch
at the inevitable - when they try
to hold my shaking hand.

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