Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Foster Child (poem in progress)

Foster Child

You called her “Mother”,
Your foster mother
Who adopted your elder brother
And took you and your sisters
Into her home
I only knew it as a scary place
Which smelled of cats
And rotting food
A big woman
And you loved her
The only one of your siblings
Who wouldn’t forgive the birth mother
Who couldn’t raise her family
I have so many questions
Which you won’t answer
Pushing all those memories away
As you drown yourself in the company
Of Jack Daniels
The sweet smell that I remember well
Every day you came home from work
And we knew to retreat to our bedrooms
Until supper
And hope your day wasn’t bad
Filling that empty spot in your heart
With what some call
Liquid courage
But which I called weakness
Maybe I was too harsh
Maybe I was wrong
I know now you tried your best
But you still left us
Wishing someone else had raised us
Too.

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