Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Quotes
Short Stories
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Resources
Syllable Counter
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 18.226.98.183
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
Three states in five hours. Maybe we’ll stop somewhere nice like a KOA campground. A kid can hope. It’s hot and it would be great to go for a swim. Instead we stop at the liquor store, dad buys a case of beer. At the store next door mom buys a carton of cigarettes and a bag of pretzels. Next stop a parking lot just off the interstate. Dad’s ready to celebrate. I feel my calf muscles start to shake. I pull back the white curtains of our Winnebago. My reflection stares back at me from the dirty window pane. I look past my reflection at the few cars that are parked. One is a Buick Wildcat and the other one is a Mustang. Not quite the holiday destination I dreamed of. We have travelled a long way to get nowhere. I look at the rosary hanging on the rearview mirror. How many forgiven trespasses? I think dad might have exceeded his limit. The driver’s side window is open a crack and the smoke from his cigarette mixes with the sky. I feel envious, I want to float away with the smoke. Dad is going to be up late again I’m expecting thunder and lightning With a definite possibility of pain “Hang down your head Tom Dooley ” blairs on the 8 track player. I’ll get to hear that song at least twenty times before the night is through. Unless the tape breaks again. His Johnny Cash tape is at the ready if that should happen. Gazing beyond the Winnebago’s screen door, I imagine what it would be like to be free. I picture a hut on a tropical beach. I would fish for my food and walk along the shore every day. Peace and quiet except the sound of waves and seagulls. The pffst sound from opening his beer bottle jolts me back to reality. He empties the contents into his mug. Is it wrong for me to pray he chokes on it? Mom told me that when they met, his eyes were so blue, like a clear sky on a sunny day. Now they look faded. When he’s not drinking they mostly look like storm clouds. He sees himself as a black sheep, I’m thinking more like a charcoal sheep with smudged edges. I fear he might rub off on me. God, I hope not! They say “The Apple doesn’t fall far from the Tree” . I hope a gust of wind blows me far away from the tree. Being just nine years old, I don’t have much of a say when it comes to my life. I feel a chill in the air and I shiver. In a couple more hours I might get to go to bed. Happy to be curled in a foetal position under a warm blanket. A measure of peace will come when I hear him snoring. I wish he didn’t have insomnia. If I have a good night's sleep it will help me get through another day. Yep it’s one day at a time Even though each day feels like a lifetime. early afternoon twenty four bottles of beer empty by midnight
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required