LIKE JOE STALIN.

A GIRL THINKS BACK TO HER MOTHER AND BROTHER AND THEIR SUICIDES.

Your brother Karl said that
Your father reminded him
Of Joe Stalin right down to

The eyes and moustache
And the way he went from
Room to room of the downtown

Apartment with that heavy
Tread of his and the time he
Hauled you out of bed after

He heard you’d been sleeping
With one of the young men at
The office and beat you about

Even though it was Karl who
Had slept with him but didn’t
Dare tell your father what with

His tempers and all and you
Remembering how your mother’s
Suicide was almost certainly down

To him and now as you lie in bed
Looking out of the window at the
Drizzly rain you wish Karl was there

Beside you talking and not just a
Rotting corpse up in the cemetery
And some nights you think he is

There in the room with looking out
For you but you know it’s just in the
Mind and like your mother Karl shot

Himself when he thought your father
Had found out about him being with
Men and not you and as you watch

The rain run down the windowpane
You think you feel Karl lying there
Beside you in the bed whispering again.