image from caranddriver.com
Fun House Blues
“You ask me to write you a poem, and I pen you
an empty ocean as you run away.”--Janim Disie.
My father was a petty criminal. He went to prison
for robbing a gas station when I was ten. He was
killed in jail in a dispute over cigarettes. My mother
was an addict and a prostitute, who abandoned my
older sister and I when I was twelve. My sister and I
lived on the streets until she was murdered while
turning a twenty dollar trick.
After foster homes, I went out on my own at 16. I
joined a band of car thieves. I could break into a car,
hot wire it and be gone in three minutes. I was driving
a 700 hp. Dodge Charger when it took the cops two
hours to run me down. I ended up in the hospital
handcuffed to the bed. You know, sometimes the great
bones of my life feel so heavy.
Glenn Buttkus
Prosery
Posted over at d'Verse Poet's Pub
18 comments:
Someone so young being so tired takes a lot of criminal action ... all the misery of childhood seems almost two much... I like it.
There are some people born to get into trouble. Love this Glenn.
A sad life for that person. I wonder what happened after.
This is incredibly poignant, Glenn! You have packed so much emotion into this prose- I can visualize the weariness of that 16 year old who probably had no idea what he was getting himself into.
Sadly, there are no doubt similar stories to be told over and again.
Succinctly related bio, Glenn, & superb elucidation of prompt.
Well, ev’rybody’s got sumpthin’... at least the guy’s not Republican. :)
It's no wonder this guy ended up in trouble with the law: sounds like he never had a chance!
Some people were just born with heavy bones, weighed down by the circumstances of birth and the bad luck that rubbed off on them. I suppose, if those people didn’t exist, we would never have known the blues.
Most of us indeed dramatize much ado about nothing. The matter-of-fact tone here is perfect.
One can hope his life turns around. A sad, sad story.
Well this guy's bones were definitely weighed down by his circumstances and then his choices. Well written.
Whether 'tis fact or fiction .... great write!!!
In my old job as a juvenile PO interacting with kids just like that, the ones having lived 5 lifetimes in the span of a few years, is haunting. So many adults can't connect with teenagers especially delinquent ones. The role of listener was the biggest one I had. If a child like that has even one kind ear, it can make all of the difference.
Bad to the bone.
Glenn, this should be a movie. Well done!
-David
Wow! Heart-breaking story well told.
Everyone needs a back-story, and this is a beaut.
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