Chatter from the bar
silent football games
hollaring, laughing, cheering
Wendy and her Soulshakers
on a 30 minute break
Enjoying a Saturday night on the Island
just Daddy and me
as we have done
for 20 some odd years
Sometimes I forget to
remember him in my writings
as if he were
apart of me too much
to seperate our time
in inks of black and blue
We sailed boats together when I was a child
sang songs in bars he worked
chatted about history
he was a sometime attorney
who loved rare meat
He IS all I knew
as an eight year old
before I went up there to her
he didn't know what to do
when I begged to come home
my foot in an abused child's shoes
and I took 5 years to let him know
Why did that place have to happen to me
Why couldn't I of lived normally
Why did it take so long to turn thirteen
That summer
my mind was already gone
peace was made with the land
I thought
so I didn't leave a light on
I don't regret those tumultuous years
in that Mississippi sharecropper space
because I proved I could survive
and I never let the memories die
of a little girl begging her daddy to sing
her favorite song
in some Florida island bar
as the chatter of the crowd
pushed him along
I love you Daddy
Thank you for saving me
