Robert Boyd Poet Free verse

Secret Tattoos

secret tattoos

a three-masted schooner tattoo on his bare chest
              my father tosses us each
high into the air and we squeal with delight
                 make it sail for us.
he rubs his ocean belly and his ship rolls swoons
                dips for us and we
dont know he is fading like the lines of the ink
                 geisha with parasol seducing
on his right arm or blue-red butterfly on his left calf
                 that doesn’t fly like he no longer
can and sailor you never told us how you raced
               behind marines on strange pacific beaches
tagging mates to live and fleeing their dying 
               screams: at sixteen summers young
nebraska boy belongs in fields of wheat or corn
                or a soda shop on main street.
their bone splinters and flesh shreds mingling with sand
              still cry in his ears save me brother
help me mother oh god please shoot me bob don’t
              leave me  leave me. leave me.
tides lapping at the shores of his memory will wash
            his secret tattoos.
Rb 90
for my father, a Navy corpsman who served
 in two wars.

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