The father and the other father
study how to contrast
He always has a smile for truck-stop waitresses
He’s always gnawing on his hands
He lays on the floor to give me belly-island
He pulls me across the room by my hair
and calls me a cock-sucker
The father and the other father
learn how to sabotage my moods
He murmurs below my breath about how
no-one could ever love me
He fits himself into my walk
and tells me he raised a leader
The father and the other father
can’t know anything about me now
because they’re both dead
and I’m alone here getting high among
her valentines