3. gay

the thread broke,
one day,
mom had enough
and kicked his ass out,
he tried telling her that
she would regret it,
but she never did,
and his new chick didn’t
stand for his shit,
a single hit and he
got sent to prison,
don’t know for how long,
i hope that he found it in him
to stop with the drinks
when he got out.

but i couldn’t take the time
to notice when i got to that age,
mama sent me to school,
things started okay,
but one day, it all escaped,
third grade, sat by and watched
all the games they played,
got picked for football,
those memories of dad
came circling back,
i froze in my spot,
only to move when
the pigskin flew,
full force to my face,
it knocked me down,
all in fear, shed a tear
or two
as i laid in the pain.

no one came to help,
they all just laughed,
a boy stopped to lift me,
i gave him a hug,
i cried in his shoulder,
“fag!”
i heard from a blonde kid
in the back,
and my boy ran away,
every damn day,
they’d talk to me like that,
i’d sit on the step
on my own,
they’d walk by
and say “hey,
that kid is gay!”
laugh and fling hate
my way,
tell me i’d go
down below
when it was time
to leave.

that sounded better than school.