Pops                                    


Making lots of trouble,
because I can’t be in control…
but I am.
Just like Pops.

I want to be how he was.

Pops brought me toys
when he’d be out working awhile.
Flashlights, pencils, and the like-
all with corporate branding.

Big surprises from Pops, always thinking of me.

He made his ballcap look so slick that
I wanted to hit dogs with him,
call my Mom a whore,
and hang out in bars with miners.

When Pops got mad, he’d use the most
colorful words-
an artist.
That’s who my Pops was.

I’d like to be like him.

Heck, I’ve already seen how it’s done.
Pops sure did like to throw me around,
and I’ll do the same with my boy.
Gotta show a young man
who’s the real man of the house.
Wear ballcaps,
hit cats with shovels,
slam whiskey at Noon,
grab children by the neck and squeeze.

A sensitive man…I want to be a sensitive man…like Pops.

Behind all the ballcap charisma,
he wept at World War documentaries.

It’s a brave man I wanna be.
A courageous man…like Pops.