My Normal Family

A girl wakes up every day with the nightmares of her mother’s screams.

She tells herself she will leave her home as fast as she can.

And she does, on the day that she turn eighteen.

The girl packs up and then looks for a man.

The girl couldn’t get accepted into college,

And so there were few jobs available

The dream of leaving poverty would be demolished

And forever she’d be forced to wait tables.

At a club she sees a face flash a smile,

she returns in like and then they begin to talk

The two become married in a short while,

And so the girl found what she had sought.

The girl, now married, had money,

but not only that, she had a child.

and the future seemed sunny,

but the storm was at its most mild.

“Today Mommy and Daddy fought about me bringing my blanket to school.

Daddy threw me outside, but then I heard them agree.

I heard them high five, and then sent me to the cruel,

cruel place where I can’t even bring my blankee.”

“Today I have the fifth grade science fair.

Mom said not to tell Dad about it.

If Dad knew, we couldn’t be there,

Since I had to skip football practice.

But when I got home, Dad knew where I had gone.

I apologized, but then he began to scream,

‘This is my house and it’s my mon-’

His fist was raised at me, but Mom had got between

It and my face, and so my Dad got even madder.

I was thrown up the stairs and then locked in my room.

As I listened, screams got louder and sobs got sadder.

I wanted to mop up the tears but I have only, a broom.”

“And so I got to Middle School, but had no friends,

Until one day some kids taught me what could make me feel better.

They gave me a drink, one that mends

They said it would get rid of all my troubles and I said ‘sure’”

“My mom always says how she is a klutz,

And tries to say that nothing is wrong,

But I know the burns are from cigarettes,

And the caged bird is afraid to sing her song.

I have a drink and forget about it.

My eyes get heavy and my legs go weak.

Before I fall I make sure i sit,

But then I collapse on the bed and fall asleep.”

“I see her face in my dreams, bruised, burned, bloody,

And I see the sadness in her eyes, the stream of tears coming down.

The ground gets cold, dark, damp and muddy.

I’m shaken awake and I’m being held against the ground.

My dad is holding the bottle shouting words

He breaks it and points it at me

As if I’d see what I hadn’t heard

That his threats aren’t empty.”

“My parents divorced and it’s all my fault.

I skipped school and borrowed some drinks from the liquor store.

I look at my arm and I think of the belt.

I see all the cuts, all the scars, and all the sores

I take a drink and let the world disappear

All my troubles go away

I feel like I’m not even here,

As if it’s no longer day.”

“I just finished high school and now I’m a carpenter.

I have a girlfriend and I very much love her.

But when I get angry, I hit her, I kick her.

It’s almost as if I’ve become my father”

“So I drink, I drink my heart out and come home.

I see my kid and he needs discipline.

i grab my belt and smack his dome,

But his death isn’t a sin”

Its all because of the government

The government needs to keep us away from poverty.

It needs to pass and implement

Bills to enhance our safety.

The government is keeping us poor.

My parents married because of money.

And now I always pass out lying on the floor,

And my wife flinches whenever I say honey.

Maybe if the city recognized the marks on mine and my mother’s skin,

or maybe  if I hadn’t taken that first sip.

Maybe if silence was the loudest din.

But now I must go, I must take a trip.

To a place I’ll never leave,

To a place for those who kill.

But I will never believe

That anything could have saved me from the ill.

The disease is running through my veins,

It has happened in my family for years.

I wish I slowed the reigns,

But it seems I’ve just drunk too many beers.