all the sad poems

Why are all the sad poems about women

is it just more tragic for them to be in a bad way

or do men keep their sad stories to themselves,

bottled up and hidden away

I feel bad for Brandi and Connie and Ellie

I really do

but what about Timmy and Tommy and Dan

Tom’s wife Bonnie got pregnant a few months ago

and Tom is just so excited

he rushed out and bought arm loads of toys

dolls and army men, just to be safe

and the whole time we was out

running from store to store

Bonnie kept trying to think of a way to tell him

the baby isn’t his

And Timmy, poor old Timmy

we go way back he and I

all the way to Orange Run Elementary

playing on the monkey bars and big blue slides

but now Timmy is five years a drunk and

rehabed twice

but it never really took

he stays sober a while

then something happens,

loses his job, fights with his parents

and it’s right back to the bottle

we talk about it sometimes

when we’re sitting around bullshitting,

throwing back beers,

Larry and Brain and Memphis and I,

the old gang, and we talk about

how we don’t think Timmy has too many

relapses left in him

Finally Dan

we were never really close Dan and I,

more of a friend of a friend thing but

we talked a little, played sports together in high school

Dan came from a proud military family

fathers and grandfathers back to the civil war

serving their country

Dan couldn’t wait to be the next in line

and when his chance came a few months out of college

only a few days out of basic

he was ready, chest full of pride and glory

he led his men into battle

20 men, most younger than him,

on October 3, 2006 outside of Kandahar,

when the mortars and RPG’s died down

they found most of him crouched behind a boulder

and dragged it back to the city,

he still talks pretty well,

if you catch him on a good day

and when you look in his father’s face

and see that little shine of something behind his eyes

its hard to tell if it’s pride in his son

or disappointment that he’ll be the last in the great line

I’m not sure if these stories are any more or less tragic

than any others

but I just felt they deserved a telling