August 28th, 2020

My brother once told me
That we were related
We didn’t grow up together
So it needed to be stated
My brother once told me
You look so pretty
Well, pretty ugly
But he was just kidding
My brother once told me
He was having a baby
I was barely a child
And he wasn’t yet eighteen
My brother once told me
His childhood tales
School fires and bomb threats
No lack of details
My brother once told me
He was calling me an ambulance
His instincts to protect me
Were quite miraculous
My brother once told me
I shouldn’t be a poet
Because writers aren’t happy
But I was already devoted
My brother once told me
He lost his employment
But he stopped showing up
Because he relapsed on poison
My brother once told me
He was getting divorced
You can only hurt someone so much
Before they feel no remorse
My brother once told me
It was time to say goodbye
That the cops are after him
He was hard to personify
My brother once told me
That I gained some weight
But he’d lost all of his
And given into a cruel fate
My brother once told me
With a change in his voice
That he likes being homeless
And you can’t change someone’s choice