my father drove
through two kentucky counties
screaming
“It’s a girl!”
after twenty years
three wives
and four boys, one of which
he could not claim
just before the depression took hold
and dying by his own hand
became more appealing
than dying slowly
in front of me
“Do you think I want Alicia to see me like this?”
he screamed at her
while the garbage burned…
and she agreed
