I wear your likeness
Like a scapular
Around my neck.
Your mannerisms
Complete my mosaic.

From behind, we look
Like Jews' harps
Standing with
Hands hanging by
Thumbs in  pants pockets.
These familiar traits
Trickle down and sprout
Anew,
Like Granda, I hear.

Seeing you, one would think
Great thoughts fill your head,
As you stare
At the ***** garden.

My sibs **** their heads
And tsk too,  running
Their hands from front
To back
Through thick black hair.
I recoil at the drops of sweat
Falling from the tips of their
Noses.

Sarcasm drips like venom
From your words.
The cost of a glass of water,
Or a phone call,
Always
Had my friends laugh,
Nervously.
They never knew how
To take you.
I was surprised
By your grudging
Facade when help
Was asked.

I enjoyed your silence.
Even now,
As entropy
Has its way
With my garden.

Well, my daddy left home when I was three,
and he didn't leave much to Ma and me,
just this old guitar and a bottle of *****.
Now I don't blame him because he run and hid,
but the meanest thing that he ever did was
before he left he went and named me Sue.

Well, he must have thought it was quite a joke,
and it got lots of laughs from a lot of folks,
it seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
and some guy would laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell you, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean.
My fist got hard and my wits got keen.
Roamed from town to town to hide my shame,
but I made me a vow to the moon and the stars,
I'd search the ***** tonks and bars and ****
that man that gave me that awful name.

But it was Gatlinburg in mid July and I had
just hit town and my throat was dry.
I'd thought i'd stop and have myself a brew.
At an old saloon in a street of mud
and at a table dealing stud sat the *****,
mangy dog that named me Sue.

Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
from a worn-out picture that my mother had
and I knew the scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old
and I looked at him and my blood ran cold,
and I said, "My name is Sue. How do you do?
Now you're gonna die." Yeah, that's what I told him.

Well, I hit him right between the eyes and he went down
but to my surprise he came up with a knife
and cut off a piece of my ear. But I busted a chair
right across his teeth. And we crashed through
the wall and into the street kicking and a-gouging
in the mud and the blood and the beer.

I tell you I've fought tougher men but I really can't remember when.
He kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laughin' and then I heard him cussin',
he went for his gun and I pulled mine first.
He stood there looking at me and I saw him smile.

And he said, "Son, this world is rough and if
a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
and I knew I wouldn't be there to help you along.
So I gave you that name and I said 'Goodbye'.
I knew you'd have to get tough or die. And it's
that name that helped to make you strong."

Yeah, he said, "Now you have just fought one
helluva fight, and I know you hate me and you've
got the right to **** me now and I wouldn't blame you
if you do. But you ought to thank me
before I die for the gravel in your guts and the spit
in your eye because I'm the nut that named you Sue."
Yeah, what could I do? What could I do?

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun,
called him pa and he called me a son,
and I came away with a different point of view
and I think about him now and then.
Every time I tried, every time I win and if I
ever have a son I think I am gonna name him
Bill or George - anything but Sue.

I came to you last night, climbed in through your window with the last of the summer breeze. You sat on the floor, so small in your sorrow while you held the world in your shaking palm, the pressure of it's screaming too much for your tender heart.
I came to you last night and my heart swelled with love as I watched your tears glisten, their salt on my lips as I kissed your tired skin. I will hold you for a lifetime, tightly against my beating heart, so that you may hear the love I have for you as it thunders through my very being, strong and true against your darkest tide.
I am love, I am comfort, I am strength.
I am yours. Take my light, my song, my heart, let them lift you from the swirling depths, let them anchor your soul to mine that you may always have a home.
Once you lifted my heart to the heavens with a single word and within that moment I knew that we were two halves of a broken whole, though our pieces are scattered and torn we are bound, our destinies colliding within the storm that is our existence.
I came to you last night, no harm shall enter in my wake, no sorrow will linger, only my unending joy at your smile as you whisper "hello".

My attic's full
Of Thank You's
That can't keep out
The cold,
But rafters
Hang with laughter
To warm me
When I'm old.

My basement's full
Of Pleases,
Poor fuel for the furnace,
But air vents
Carry welcomes
To keep us cool
Or warm us.

The shed is shelved
With If's and Buts
And jars of
Maybe bolts;
The fasteners
Of family ties,
The glue
Of hearts and souls.

Search the garage,
Open cupboards,
Lift the sideboard lid;
Step into closests,
Check under stairs,
You'll find them everywhere.
We use them freely,
Need them dearly,
Those small words
Sound so good.

Enlightened? Maybe. I feel where you're going Lady,
On these hazy, lazy days you end up trading,
thoughts for words placed on public pages.
Feelings trapped in cages, but you gotta let em out-
I know oh-too-well the way life goes,
Sometimes you just gotta put the pen to the inkwell,
And watch as your mind shows up in the inkblot,
'Cuz the colors separation brings more inspiration,
And maybe you'll learn a little more today.
Things 'bout your minds state, what happened of late,
Whether you'll get over it or want to,
maybe your interest wants you? Whether the shoe,
really fits or are you just winging it and afraid,
That people will know your true ways?
Don't get lost in Heaven chick, they got locks on the gate,
Don't get too sad either, Hell only really lasts a few days.
But all that matters, as you can see what I'm gonna do,
Is to treat each and every day, like it's New.