Prologue:

and love?
I want this thing gone.

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“After great pain, a formal feeling comes–”

it’s in front of the Christmas tree
one week before you die,
alone and panicked by the
thought of mustering courage;
mettle and words,
staring at white-frosted plastic;
pine dotted with uniform red balls
when I feel it.

it’s like cement cracking.

the ornaments of my childhood
all gone, lost
with my yearbooks and the
oil painting of mom
taken by the asbestos garage,
poverty; my enslaver.
i’ve been writing this for you
for about ten years
waiting for the day I’d be
by your bed to read the ending.
the bargaining begins.
(it’s just one breath)

this is where the poem begins. 

1. (dad)