All The Promises He Didn't Keep

by Mackenzie Ice (2008)

The tiny wood shavings littering the yard

Appeared with the rhythms of the saw,

Feeling like the fading beats 

Of a steadily dying heart.

I watch Dad construct the boat 

They'd have sailed on together, 

A project he began the day after

Mom died

With the waking realization

He'd never fulfill the empty words

That ended every argument,

Reassurances to ease the many silent nights,

Screaming fights and pounding fists

Never grazing an eye,

But she always shed tears.

His rough hands smooth the warm chestnut ribs,

Someday engraved with Virginia,

The name permanently fixed on his cracked lips

And which lies above the "loving mother"

I chose for their joint headstone,

Right next to the name that should say “deadbeat husband”

Or "lowlife father”

(as mentioned in Girl, Interrupted | A Meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society | Episode 1)