for Clem
When the kids are asleep
i forget the beatings
I forget how you
took that sleep from me
and filled it with monsters that growl
under my wake
Stepfathers should always
stand outside the magic circle
stepping on the edges
making sure it doesn’t draw tighter
into a noose
They are not horned beasts
dragging off the princess mother
into dark bedrooms
that trouble dreams
and neither were you
Like me you were a man
fighting not to slip down
all those holes in yourself
Round with no center
Round going down in the middle
Oh honeys i cling to the edge
Oh babies some days i know the secret
of levitation
Maybe you were too blind
Maybe diabetes took your sleep
Maybe you never realized how heavy it is
to sculpt men from the precipice
to sing something bright in these
meadows blazing with rust