I knew I would marry you
when I saw my dads body
lifeless and shriveled
when I saw his skin
crawl away from his bones
when I saw his soul
castrated
the angel of death standing over his head
screaming cancer in the loudest whisper
I’ve ever heard
bouncing off the walls of that apartment home
you see I knew
the kind of man I would marry
at just thirteen
when my Dad’s breath got up and left
didn’t take me with him
and left nothing
but the definition
of a man