The summer my parents destroyed everything
we pretended to be a normal family one last time
watched Bonnie and Clyde at the repertory cinema
then chugged home half asleep in Dad’s rusty blue car
divided and silent, to find a skinny couple looting our house
We entered to the rustle of cans
clatter of drawers being pulled out
They’d come for me, I realized
someone heard the call
of my bang bang heart!
Father didn’t notice my reaction
he never did, just grabbed my bantam bat
from the front hall and crept back outside
prowled through the darkness
while my mother, a tight-lipped firecracker
herded the pair into his backyard trap
It was late, but I could barely stand still
knowing Parker and Barrow had no reason to be there
except for me, they would find nothing of value
in our skeleton house, we were poor hippies—
didn’t own a television set, jewels, gold bars, cash
Just a broken cassette player that ate every tape
Dad swooped in, brandishing the bat
cornering them from behind like that outlaw Jesse James
forcing Clyde to grab some rusty fishing knife
that had scaled a thousand fish
but couldn’t slice bread
I wanted to tell them I’d come willingly
they could take me now and leave unharmed
I stepped out from around Mother’s legs
certain our kitchen held no mysteries
and saw it through their eyes:
a vault filled with treasure
Tell them why you picked our home! I hollered
but this woman was too plump to be Bonnie
and her man was too short for Clyde
She was already blasting our plaster ceiling
with a sawed-off shotgun and my parents flattened to the floor
I sighed. The couple fled into the night
Confused, I ran for a window
pressed my nose to the glass
praying they would come back for me
hoping to catch one more glimpse of my future
I waited all night, listening
to the wily soundtrack of police sirens
Dad was red-faced and shaking:
They could have grabbed you, held me hostage!
Why aren’t you more like your brother
who understands how to behave and hid in the closet!
Our home bore those gunshots for a lifetime
After Dad left I understood that change
only happens when the head lets go
Hardly anyone answers the beat
of my heart’s drum any more