Your first marriage ended when his rich family
in Florida decided some barefoot Indiana farm girl

was simply not worthy of their son
but bearing down long enough to endure the pain

you gave birth to a new beginning
with another man, blood of my blood, whose angry nature

burned a brand onto my heart and I remember how
he tore me from your arms at the bus station

He was on the run after shooting the widower
and they caught him, returned me to you

and he was led away, hands shackled behind his back
revolving red lights atop the police cruiser screaming at me

and the policeman's hand on his head
firmly guiding him down into

the dark backseat of the black and white
on that day when the whole world turned gray

15.

Hurry, dad, I cried, something's wrong
The-only-man-I-ever-knew-as-father

wheeled the John Deere through
deep ruts in the access road

bouncing the haywagon's balloon tires over blackheads
of blunt rock breaking out on the earth's tawny skin

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