Beer Can Hands

You could put down that beer can.
You could even dump out what’s left.
C’mon, pick up that baseball,
it’s not even lunchtime yet.

Did we do something wrong?

Please don’t yell when we’re trying to sleep.
Can’t you just calm down?
Your favorite show is on TV.

O man with the beer can hands,

you’re drunk inside your soul.

Did mom put you down, or do you

frown out the window for fun?
Those trees aren’t going to lift you
where you need to go.

Look around, we’re swarming under you

like children at the ice cream truck,
hoping for just one morsel of attention.
Waiting for our frozen hero.

O man with the beer can hands,

you’re drunk inside our souls.

What would it cost you, anyway?

Who’d see anything but a loving father?
And for once, for once you could feel
welcome in your own damned skin.


(From the book Kairos)