Slump

Even in the early pictures, my brother 

sitting in the stroller, you can tell
our father isn't satisfied.

Already there's an inward drooping 

in the baby’s eyes 

that mirrors the slump in father’s face 

looking past the child toward something 

deep and awful that left its marks on him.  

There's nothing wrong about this baby 

boy but his father’s dis-esteem ages 

that child, runs his life.....

poor health hunts him down

like a lion in the weeds
and then devours him.

But my brother cleaves to my love, 

at times thin as an exclamation mark 

but not loving him is just too hard 

for me to swallow.