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A Single Tear of Togetherness
Sweat drips off me as I roll out of bed
Like always, she’s there in the chair
Watching over me, or just watching
Like a caged animal, seeing what I’ll do next
I sit on the end of the bed and look at her
She never speaks, never blinks
Just looks and smiles
A lone tear runs down her cheek
I try to talk to her but she won’t respond
I wonder if the tear is for me
Or for the pain felt when she died
Her body crushed, her organs smashed and
punctured
Her soul ripped from what was left
But here she sits now
With a silent love that only a sister could
have
The bond between siblings will never be
broken
I will always be here for her, even though
she’s gone
She will always be here for me, like always
And I know that every day
When I roll out of bed
My dead sister will be sitting right there
In the chair, silent
With that one tear rolling down her cheek
Stolen Moments
My entire life I sat by and watched my father
dwindle away
His time, his life
Busting his ass, his back, his spirit
Trying to make a better life for us
So many birthdays and holidays missed
Mandatory overtime
Third shift
Fixing their fuck ups
Where would they be without him
I know where I was without him
At home, missing my old man
Every time he left for that hell hole
Coming home stained with steel and blood
Sweating pain and pride
Either at work, or too tired from work
They stole him from me
Arrest them
The company stealing from us
Stealing time from us
My childhood memories missing because of
overtime
Two years out of retirement
Sorry
You’ve been a great worker but we’re closing
the plant
You can move to China if you want your job
Now they’ve stolen his time and broken his
spirit
All the time, all trouble, all the overtime
Less than two years from his glorious finale
So close but so far away
ménage à trios of mine
Inspiration perspiration
Wanting both but it seems like a choice
Either ready willing and able
Or
Struggling trying and failing
I want to attempt and attain
Try and succeed
Sitting here sweating, dripping, wanting to
do
Wishing I was doing and finishing
But no, it’s one or the other
I want them both
At the same time
But instead, they pool up separately
Inspiration forming a puddle at my feet
Perspiration forming a puddle in my lap
Give me both
If I can’t perspire while inspired
Leave me to sit here dry and dusty
To dehydrate in a thought vacuum
Water Wings
I climb slowly up the ladder
Ascending steadily towards what could be
heaven
From this distance it’s hard to tell
Vantage point yet to be determined
The rungs repeat themselves
Over and over like a drunken apology
My hands slip with every attempted grasp
My feet stumble with every step
I slowly make my way
Up the looming 200 feet
Knees shaking
Body trembling
My trip concludes at the edge of the diving
board
Two bounces is all it takes
Sending my crippled body
Physically and emotionally
Swan diving into the two feet
Of ego in the shallow end of my existence
Digging For Memories
You were only five or six
Making me around three of four
28 years ago
But the memory as fresh as if it was this
morning
You working so diligently in the sandbox
Carefully extracting the worms
Brushing the sand from them
As careful as a paleontologist
Brushing the dirt from a million year old
bone
You rescued them
With your heart and your hands
With a little help from your blue plastic
shovel
I watched in amazement at your delicate
actions
The care you gave those slimy little things
I peeked out from behind the tree
Watching you with awe
As I always would
You would take them and set them on the bench
Resting them on the edge of the sandbox
Taking great care as to not hurt them
Awestruck, I would sneak up to get a closer
look
Then when you turned your back
I would take your shovel
And smash them until their guts squirted out
I did so in jealousy
Because I wanted all your time
And attention to myself
Damn worms
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