After my mother left him
and it was my father’s turn to have me
over the weekend, we usually wound up
at the movies, monster flicks and Japanese sci-fi,

​

because anything was better
than sitting in his downtown hotel room
with its chair and bed and Jim Beam.

​

His great bulk rested beside me
as Reptilicus, or the Beast
from Twenty Thousand Fathoms
collided titanically on the screen and died.

​

He watched as aliens came to our planet
with their giant robots and death rays,
destroying our armies, stealing our women,
our beautiful young women, bearing them off
to new, unimaginable lives.

—from Blood Pages, available on Amazon.