last night's dream

We sat at the picnic table on your carport
You were drunk again
The wind blew the cigarette ashes across the table
While your bruised and battered wife
Fretted that something was going to set you off
There was a storm brewing
And the dark thunder was my heart beating.

All your sorry, no-count friends were there.
The ones who just laugh when you act like an idiot.
The ones that were too scared to call you on it.

I was just a stranger and you were trying to size me up
Your wife had let me in while you were gone fishing
Because I was stranded with no way to get home.
Now you asked me questions. Looking at me, and then your wife, as if there
Were some invisible ping pong ball bouncing back and forth between us.

I could tell you were itching to beat her again.
This time, you might even beat up on your 4 year old daughter, too.
That’s what made you feel like a real man.
Helped you forget that you were a little failure with no education
Living in a small dirty house drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon to forget your daddy.