We Just Circle Your Tree Rings – Wednesday 7th August 2019

We Just Circle Your Tree Rings

people live out lives
as a series of characters
because authenticity
is hard to obtain

oh, dad
i do not blame you
i just wish your trauma
and the ravages of your mental health
had not so untamed you

i wish
you had not screwed up those years
and thrown them in the bin
i wish you had not sunk us
without knowing where to begin

look at you now,
hanging onto the rock face
abseiling down old age
with a rope so threadbare,
a life, already played
in the family cupboards so bare

oh, dad
what has it come to
even when you throw the ball to me
i cannot throw it to you
we just circle your tree rings
wondering how you took hopeful childhood
and left us to gnaw and cling





James Garratt – Wednesday 7th August 2019