Mouse Trap

Check out my you tube channel where I read my poetry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2roycihKc0

Your ashes don't speak to me Dad;
they float silent in the ocean.
I need you.
I have questions about
Don Quixote and Steinbeck.
You implanted in me a
love for literature,
and then left me before
the story was supposed to end.

What is the theme?
This plot sucks!
I inherited your anger.
I think of you when
I punch the wall and
scream at my wife-
spider web windshields.

I cry through Man of La Mancha,
and laugh at the memory of the
stage you built us in the basement.
Who does that?
Props and scripts were our toys.
I acted and lied my way through my
first two marriages- always on.

You were the great director;
all your trophies are on the mantle.
You thought the pizza place turned
the volume down on the T.V when
your speaking parts came on.

I think you passed me your insanity.
I've been to the nuthouse many times.
I'm a poet Dad, two books published.
I still remember you reading
Kipling and Cummings to me.

In third grade, I read from
Of Mice and Men to my class.
The teacher scolded me for
saying, "Jesus Christ' and "Son of a B***h."
What a peasant!
She missed the bigger picture;
life doesn't go as planned.

Author's Note

Check out my book, Seedy Town Blues Collected Poems on Amazon.com
Here's a link to my you tube channel where I read my poetry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2roycihKc0

Reviews

[Stella Armour]

They say we are masters of our own destiny but without guidance how can we know what is expected of us?
I don't think for one moment you are the only person who went off the rails because you followed a parent's bad example.
Narcissistic parents have a lot to answer for and never give praise, even now when you can be proud they would not acknowledge your success.
Life seldom goes as planned

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you so much for the read and comment.

[Writergurl]

Life sure doesn't go as planned does it? I know this feeling. Well expressed

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you very much.

[Pete]

no, life sure doesn't always go as planned. we must pony up and play the cards we're dealt. we all have questions for mom and dad. if we never pass through the storms we don't fully appreciate fair weather. there is a reason and purpose for all. powerfully told ... ")

[Thomas W Case]

Thanks, Pete. Much appreciated.

[FGFRANKLIN]

A writer I met once in a guitar shop made an interesting observation in a song he wrote. He wrote, " It's not what we take when we leave this world behind us; it's what we leave behind us when we go" from Three Wooden Crosses as written by Doug Johnson and Kim Williams and recorded by Randy Travis. I think that means we must take what we are given to build from and provide what needs to be passed on. I enjoyed the read.

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you. Much appreciated.