I gave up smoking the day I found out my wife was pregnant with our first child

that VERY day

My father smoked at the dinner table, in the car, all around us

ALL the time

I’ve never been drunk around my children...EVER

I’ve had no more than 2-3 drinks, telling them the virtues of wine

My father, if he came home with a beer in his hand on Friday afternoon, we knew we were in for it until Sunday night.

beatings, going in to get him at 2am in seedy bars, pulling him off of my mother

I always tell my kids I love them. Everyday. Email. Text. Phone calls. Holding them close to me. Smelling their hair and holding onto them is my favorite place in the whole world.

daddy are you my best buddy?
’always and forever, your best buddy’

The last time I heard my dad say I love you where I think he actually meant it was Christmas 1979, 39 years ago. Unless showing up for little league games stone drunk & belligerent towards my coaches is love. Or never showing up at all on afternoons he said he would to go play golf with me...just me. No call. No show.

father...you used to be my daddy. Remember? I thought you were the strongest man in the world. You had the biggest hands. Mine were so small in yours

We don’t suffer anymore at the hands of our fathers

Do we daddy?

Remember when we were kids and you’d turn the corner when it was cold and you’d feel better knowing you’d be in your house soon? Under your blankets and near the fire? Your mother’s food being prepared? The smell of just being safe?

yes I remember

That’s how you make me feel...

You’re the reason why
At the beginning of
Revolutions
They drag the poets
Into the streets
&
Have them shot

Poets
With their ideals
Compassion
Courage
Inflicting the masses

They always shoot the
Poets
Not the pastors
Teachers
Laborers
Politicians
Press

Poets give hope
Even when they
Themselves
Have none...