Today's poem is by Vincente Perez

Punchline (After Punchline)
       

I started a poem
about a week ago
            The punchline hasn't landed

yet. My dad isn't home.
28 years ago, he started a poem.
On his own tenure clock,
            he has done his time.

I tossed up my graduation cap. I am
still in school
            He is still in prison.

Our first conversation was just punchline
after punchline. A mouthful of
bullets made a son. Masculinity
            got a software update.

I'm not sure I can tell him
I'm more nigga than man since
            he thinks I'm one of the good ones.
Even if that should mean a real nigga
a man precedes me,
            a lethal namesake.

He is inside because he kept a dangerous thing
too close,
            like father like son. I learned
            to pack a punch and keep it handy.

I'm writing this down free to send
punches wherever I want. To
a timecard, to
            a poem,
                        to myself.

I put a punch down on a page call it a poem
workshop myself hoping I
end up somewhere different than
            when I started.
            a line plot of connections
            a generational gut punch
            where so many tried to place a period.

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Copyright © 2024 Vincente Perez All rights reserved
from Other Stories to Tell Ourselves
Newfound
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission