The Near Unborn

Here defending it
Without respect
___The rights of others
______ near unborn
______ never offered up a single thought
______ or uttered word
___ Sugared with correctness
___ Peppered with democracy

Don't bother to forecast, not in these winds;
___ as yet unknown the storms
___ on horizons themselves unimagined

Hard-boiled

Smoke another one, she said
You're never more a man than when
___you've got something long in your mouth

I sneered
Pulled down the brim of my hat
___The winter rain was waiting like a shark
I said
You shouldn't open your mouth as much
___as you open your legs
___it's a lot less becoming

She slapped me
___or tried
I caught her hand in midflight
___A dove murdering a hawk
Be still,
___I told her with a kiss

Truck in the Driveway

Dad came home today
This afternoon
Content with the day's work, and
___not reeking of boozy sweat
Dad came home today
Early, now, on time:
___Not tonight,
______after a pensive supper
______eaten in silence
______between mother and son
___Not out of the darkness adults call 'morning'
______wanting to talk, argue, shout
______after the house was silent,
______the lights out

I must have lived right today
___Been kind and humble
___Observed the rituals, avoided the cracks
___Took the right route home
___Whispered the effective prayer with
______true conviction
___My karma aligned; this the reward
______of a loving son;
___a kindness
______to a small animal
_________in a cage a city wide
____________and a bedroom deep.

Thank you, God; my
Dad came home today