Dad Crashed
 
 Slept twelve hours, got
 
 up for a drink and a
 
 pee, slept six more.
 
 Good thing it was his
 
 day off.
 
 But was it always his
 
 day off? Or did he
 
 sometimes go to work,
 
 mind folded down
 
 around exhaustion?
 
 Did he sometimes
 
 blow off work completely,
 
 call in sick, notating on
 
 his calendar the
 
 Illness of the Day?
 
 No bowling, no small talk,
 
 just plain, empty time,
 
 I walked down to
 
 the corner store for
 
 Pepsi and Cosmopolitan.
 
 Guess who was buying
 
 cigarettes, copper skin
 
 glistening bittersweet
 
 summer sweat. One
 
 look, I was Play-Doh.
 
 He Knew It, Too
 
 He turned, flashed
 
 a drop-dead-in-your-tracks
 
 gorgeous grin.