My dad
a tired old guy
drinking **** warm beer
one can after another
in a basement refuge
he called The Shop

He was kind
but very quiet
His silence
a gift of the War
and its visible
atrocities

He didn't spend much time
upstairs
with the rest of us
but we could always
enter his domain
of cigarette smoke
and beery mist
to panhandle some change
or just sit with him
in the half darkness
listening to baseball
on the radio

Until the day
his liver
generated
another
final
plan

Let's
skippydance
into the
grumbling
daybreak

I'll be pleased
when your
name
is a cargo
my memory
no longer
hauls

I want
to stop
writing
these things

But then
another one
shows up

Begging for
garments

Presenting
something
well crafted

With a
blind swing
of an axe

o raspberry
donut
please
accept the swing
of this hammer
and its
readjustment
of your
seeping
convictions

Welcome
Initiate
to the
Big Room
of the Summit
County Jail.
Specialists
will handle
the theft
of your blanket
while you're
watching TV
The game of Hearts
shall be played
each morning
after the pancake
with cold coffee
and the
entertainment
features your
inaugural public
performance
on the alfresco
commode