LIKE JOE STALIN.
Posted: March 30th, 2011, 2:15 pm
Your brother Karl said that
Your father reminded him
Of Joe Stalin right down to
The eyes and moustache
And the way he went from
Room to room of the downtown
Apartment with that heavy
Tread of his and the time he
Hauled you out of bed after
He heard you’d been sleeping
With one of the young men at
The office and beat you about
Even though it was Karl who
Had slept with him but didn’t
Dare tell your father what with
His tempers and all and you
Remembering how your mother’s
Suicide was almost certainly down
To him and now as you lie in bed
Looking out of the window at the
Drizzly rain you wish Karl was there
Beside you talking and not just a
Rotting corpse up in the cemetery
And some nights you think he is
There in the room with looking out
For you but you know it’s just in the
Mind and like your mother Karl shot
Himself when he thought your father
Had found out about him being with
Men and not you and as you watch
The rain run down the windowpane
You think you feel Karl lying there
Beside you in the bed whispering again.
Your father reminded him
Of Joe Stalin right down to
The eyes and moustache
And the way he went from
Room to room of the downtown
Apartment with that heavy
Tread of his and the time he
Hauled you out of bed after
He heard you’d been sleeping
With one of the young men at
The office and beat you about
Even though it was Karl who
Had slept with him but didn’t
Dare tell your father what with
His tempers and all and you
Remembering how your mother’s
Suicide was almost certainly down
To him and now as you lie in bed
Looking out of the window at the
Drizzly rain you wish Karl was there
Beside you talking and not just a
Rotting corpse up in the cemetery
And some nights you think he is
There in the room with looking out
For you but you know it’s just in the
Mind and like your mother Karl shot
Himself when he thought your father
Had found out about him being with
Men and not you and as you watch
The rain run down the windowpane
You think you feel Karl lying there
Beside you in the bed whispering again.