My Siblings Father

MY SIBLINGS' FATHER

Other children feared monsters 

under their bed, 

I feared the one 

living under our roof. 

His hair was nimbus black 

with a storm's thunder 

in his voice. 

His fists were freight train brown, 

ball bearing knuckles. 

Frostbite blue was his touch 

with empty icebox eyes. 

His smile untrusted 

growling words spoken 

like tangled spaghetti 

He was my mother's husband, 

My siblings' father.

A childhood of baseballs never thrown. 

Bruises and shattered bones 

medicated with lies. 

Happiness diluted with tears. 

In a house with screams undetected. 

When asked what I wanted to be, 

I testified "far from here."

Now, fiber optic home front news, 

Faceless words. 

Cancer eating away at your life 

with the fury of a piranha. 

Your disease, my champion. 

Fighting with the courage 

I was unable to muster. 

Your epitaph written 

in my adolescence, 

while plotting your midnight homicide.

Again you leave unaccountable 

for your actions. 

I’m left to wrestle with the demons. 

Not the strength to forgive, 

My memory too scarred to forget. 

I'll keep the battle lines drawn, 

your monument. 

Let the puzzle piece fall where it may.

Good bye old man 

You'll be missed like a pit viper's bite. 

Your pain can no longer 

touch me, 

from the grave.

My Siblings' Father 

by JUDGE BURDON