Five Tanka
Michael Green
 
sandbar afternoon
tiny tanned feet sink slowly
in sanibel sand
digging for tourist shy starfish
the angry crab pinches daddy

   
home for twenty years
supplemental insurance
not enough
packing memory boxes
way too old to start again
 

rotting
his teeth
welfare mom drunk
welfare dad dead
money already gone
 

behind shy smiles
bullied twelve year old son
hiding the pain
mother and father broken
burying him on friday
 

so love is
a corrupting influence
so love was
he heartbrokenly lamented
his life in romantic ruin