Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Things You Remember


I remember being slapped around
Raped and beaten and told to go home
And the priest who wanted to hear
The details before absolving me

I remember being kidnapped and knifed
Driven to a dam to be thrown off
My miracle escape and the 20 mile hike
Barefoot through the pitch black desert

Thinking the whole time that I was
So happy to be alive and still a son
And try not to step on any rattlers
Or gila monsters scorpians or thorns

I remember my uncle jokingly chaining
Me to a tree in the woods so he could eat
Dinner in peace and with the money my mom
Gave me for the weekend I didn't

Have to visit because she had to confer
With doctors about what to do with her
I remember when he died what I was doing
And what everyone else was doing

I remember him lying there looking dead
And thinking I wouldn’t see him again
Even when I die even if I close my eyes
Where only a feeling is left in the hole

And I remember other things like salty
Sunshine in the air and greenback lobster
Crawling on the checkerboard tiles
Across the kitchen floor to the stove

Just to get it over with I thought
Sweating in a thick cloud of steam
But mostly I remember the big family love
Given while asking nothing in return

As if it grew on trees or rained down
From the clouds so abundant it was
And no matter what we did or had done
To us there was someone who loved you

And now that many of them  have passed
Remembering them is the sweetest part
Of all the bad I can’t hope to forget
In the little time left for giving you my love.

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