My mama wouldn’t touch me.
I looked like my daddy,
and my daddy was dead.

My stepfather wouldn’t hear me.
He was jealous of my daddy.
My mama still loved my daddy,
I looked like my daddy
And my daddy was dead.

I was born into this world as a baby,
and was transformed into a breathing candlelight vigil.
I am my daddy’s mirror.
I am my daddy’s tombstone.
I am my daddy’s obituary.
I am my daddy’s begotten.
My daddy is not forgotten.
My mamma won’t touch me.

There could be another explosion.
Please don’t ever let the sky turn black over Dumas, Texas again.

A-clack-clack
Was that the sound of him working?
A-clack-clack
Mama packed his lunch that morning.
A-clack-clack
They said that they turned the valve off.
A-clack-clack
They said it was safe.
A-clack-clack
The explosion erased my daddy’s face.
Ka-boom
And it slammed him into his release.
Slammed him against the kingdom of his beliefs.
A-clack-clack
The explosion made a vacuum made a void,
And inside the void the boy learned to hide.
A-clack-clack
Reconstructive surgery put daddy’s face back on,
But reconstructive surgery couldn’t fix my mama’s heart.
No surgeon’s needle will sew the lining in her that came apart.

The sky is as black as Dumas, Texas every morning.
My mama can’t look at me without mourning.

Mama is still beating on the policeman’s chest;
She’s telling him that he is a liar.
Liar!
He’s not dead!
He’s coming home in an hour.
Liar! He’s not dead!
I’ve already cooked his dinner.
Liar! He’s not dead!
I’m making sweet love to him in two hours.
Liar! He’s not dead.
I will erase Vietnam with my fingertips.
Liar! He’s not dead.

Mama, daddy is dead.

You look like your father.

Mama, Daddy is dead,
And I am not my daddy’s mirror.
I am not my daddy’s tombstone.
I am not my daddy’s obituary.
Daddy is dead.
Your husband is dead,
But I am not dead,
But daddy is dead,
But I am not dead,
But your husband is dead,
But I am not dead.

I’m right here mama, and I am not dead.