Instructions For My Father

Originally published in PRISM international in 2013

(black & white photograph of my father on a beach, taken by my mother, 1967)

Leave the woman taking
this picture, Dad;
dive into the water and
swim for your life.

Crawl onto the beach of
the next village and
marry the prettiest
girl you see. That night,

when I come to you in
nightmares, please stay
calm, as I will bring
scenes from your foregone future:

holes the size of fists
in closet doors, and
choirs of rum bottles
on window sills.

Feel better by going for
a walk on the beach.
Peer across the water
and imagine

the boy from your dream,
smiling and waving. He is
happy that, for you,
he simply never was.