A poem - for my stepdad (4193 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.35 on 22 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by PAS (View user info) at 2004-05-19 17:36:45 EDT
A drunk and a driver. Driving a cab and drinking a river
ruining your health and destroying your liver
Cans in your glove compartment, beer on your breath
Your seat on the sofa, the crucifix on your chest
Did your fares know, could they tell you'd imbibed
I'm suprised you never crashed and that the passengers survived
All those visits to hospital, the tubes in your arm
the promises to change, sincere in sober charm.
Sending me to collect your beer. I was your little girl
who hated to go to the off-licence that would sell,
they let me buy the cigarettes & tennents super for you
they sold to an underage girl knowing what harm it would do
You would say how proud you were of me
yet to school parents evening you never came
Terrorising our household, fearing and loving you in turns
Beaten with the dogs lead, your discipline made me learn
That you were sick, motivated by forces you could not withstand
You would say you were weak, that you were a bad man
But you loved us and in your own way, you tried your best
Your seat on the sofa, the crucifix on your chest
Fifteen, only fifteen and I'm home from an exam
"sit down" says my mum, "something has happened" and wham
the world is knocked from my feet, for you'd died in your sleep
and I went to my GCSE that morning unaware you'd been reaped
Why doesn't the world stop turning when somebody dies?
I visited you in the mortuary, I opened your eyes
Your eyeballs were begining to rot and you didn't look the same
so maybe that wasn't your body and you were playing a game
And maybe that wasn't your coffin in the hearse
and you sneaked out of your funeral while we sang a verse
You were no longer here, but I dreamt for years you lived on
it was all just a trick and you were not gone.
Fifty-eight when you died, and five eight was your driver's number
The mini-cab office sent a wreath shaped as 58
Your number was up and death doesn't wait
You believed in God but did you believe in fate?
I think you created your own destiny when your first wife died
And your sorrow turned to despair, and the alcohol let you hide
Drinking controlled your grief and drinking subdued pain.
But it took you away, it was our loss & Death's gain.
These days I don't try to lose my troubles in a glass
I've seen how that ends
I hope I've learnt from the past.
User Reviews
Submitted by wendy <llamasweat.at.hotmail.com> at 2004-08-22 01:04:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
my name is wendy also. I read your poem and wished i could write one about my stepdad that didnt involve black thoughts. Don is my stepdad. I am now 25 and have lived with this sh*t for 17 years. I miss my biological dad. He was fun. He cared. (He died in a car accident). But most of all he loved me, and i could tell. He took an interest in everything. I think that is all that matters most of the time - that they show that they care. Don does nothing to show that he cares about me, or even his own kids. At least i know my dad cared about me. I am 25 now and have my own state of mind. I'm not interested in my stepdad, only for the sake of the rest of my family. My boyfriends father is more of a father to me than my stepdad. It great to be able to sympathise and read all your thoughts on this. I was really upset with something he did about 10 minutes ago, i found this site, and my face is now dry. Thanks guys. You rock.
Submitted by allyson at 2004-07-07 16:42:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
my step dad died when i was 18...
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2004-05-22 18:11:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice, PAS. Even if you are named after a character in Peter Pan. :-)
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2004-05-19 22:15:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
the only refinement it could use is some fancy words and some even fancier internal rhyme and thats about it. a very, very nice poem
Submitted by Robert_of_Duluth (user info) at 2004-05-19 21:06:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
i like dr. suess better
Submitted by BoOyah <PP.at.Yahoo.com> at 2004-05-19 20:08:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
What a whiney little bitch....
Submitted by R.P.McMurphy (user info) at 2004-05-19 19:49:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
mmmmmm, booze...
Submitted by DarthAwesome (user info) at 2004-05-19 19:45:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
touching
Submitted by Dufflady (user info) at 2004-05-19 19:34:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very good, lots of feeling expressed.
Submitted by chipolatte (user info) at 2004-05-19 19:06:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I like poetry.
Submitted by conrad (user info) at 2004-05-19 18:27:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I actually meant simplifying by removing a few excess syllables here and there, but I'll shut up. I like the poem, and they're inviolate to their creators in any case: I've always found the idea of "workshopped" poetry very strange, prevalent though this is in university writing courses.
Submitted by PeopleAreStrange (user info) at 2004-05-19 18:24:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"sucking me off", like my teats or something?
I may not be a lady, but I'm all woman!
Submitted by Staccers (user info) at 2004-05-19 18:19:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I hate to sound like im sucking you off, but this was just a great post, and your 'peasant underclass' was brill, after I read it I badly ripped it off with my first post.
You rock, Sir.
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2004-05-19 18:14:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i don't really read poetry, but that picture is really awesome.
Submitted by PeopleAreStrange (user info) at 2004-05-19 18:12:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Staccers, you are indeed lucky and should be happy.
I am very pleased for my mother as she is now with a lovely guy, unlike my Jekyll and Hyde stepfather and after his death, was Brian the psycho.
Brian doesn't deserve a poem about his 'antics'. He was a horrible man.
Submitted by PeopleAreStrange (user info) at 2004-05-19 18:05:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Sure it could conrad but I wanted to keep the words simple. Sometimes less is more.
Submitted by Adona (user info) at 2004-05-19 18:05:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"...And if I was a flyer, who crashed now and then..."
Submitted by Staccers (user info) at 2004-05-19 18:04:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Good poem. I have a stepfather too, for 4 years now, and he kicks ass. He is the coolest adult I know. My mother had some wierd boyfriends, but this dude is just the bomb. Seriiously, the guy has no flaws. I guess im lucky, because I hear absolute horror stories of peoples stepfathers, but i cant really relate to them.
Submitted by conrad (user info) at 2004-05-19 17:57:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Quite good - needs a little refinement IMO, but hey, that's just me.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2004-05-19 17:48:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuck me Wendy that is just brilliant.
Submitted by TripinDayZ420 (user info) at 2004-05-19 17:46:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
fucking outstanding.
sorry you had to go through that, it is tough.
Submitted by PeopleAreStrange (user info) at 2004-05-19 17:41:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
For people who hate poems - its in the frikin' title. So if you don't like them then don't bother to read this.