Pop Quotes in Long Way Down
BUT TO EXPLAIN MYSELF
I said,
The Rules are
the rules.
He knew them
like I knew them.
Passed to him.
Passed them to his little brother.
Passed to my older brother.
Passed to me.
The Rules
have always ruled.
past present future forever.
I was only three.
And I don’t remember that.
I’ve always wanted to,
but I don’t.
I so don’t.
A BROKEN HEART
killed my dad.
That’s what my mother
always said.
And as a kid
I always figured
his heart
was forreal broken
like an arm
or a toy
or the middle drawer.
WHAT YOU THINK YOU SHOULD DO?
he asked.
Follow the Rules,
I said
just like I told
everybody else.
Just like you did.
BUT YOU DID WHAT YOU HAD TO DO,
I said,
after listening to
my father admit
what I had already
known,
The Rules
are the rules.
I didn’t know
he wasn’t the right guy,
Pop said,
a tremble in
his throat.
I was sure that was Mark’s killer.
Had
to
be.
I TOLD HIM
about the
drawer,
the gun,
that I did
like he told me,
like Buck told him,
like our grandfather told
our uncle, like our uncle
told our dad.
I followed The Rules.
At least the first two.
Pop Quotes in Long Way Down
BUT TO EXPLAIN MYSELF
I said,
The Rules are
the rules.
He knew them
like I knew them.
Passed to him.
Passed them to his little brother.
Passed to my older brother.
Passed to me.
The Rules
have always ruled.
past present future forever.
I was only three.
And I don’t remember that.
I’ve always wanted to,
but I don’t.
I so don’t.
A BROKEN HEART
killed my dad.
That’s what my mother
always said.
And as a kid
I always figured
his heart
was forreal broken
like an arm
or a toy
or the middle drawer.
WHAT YOU THINK YOU SHOULD DO?
he asked.
Follow the Rules,
I said
just like I told
everybody else.
Just like you did.
BUT YOU DID WHAT YOU HAD TO DO,
I said,
after listening to
my father admit
what I had already
known,
The Rules
are the rules.
I didn’t know
he wasn’t the right guy,
Pop said,
a tremble in
his throat.
I was sure that was Mark’s killer.
Had
to
be.
I TOLD HIM
about the
drawer,
the gun,
that I did
like he told me,
like Buck told him,
like our grandfather told
our uncle, like our uncle
told our dad.
I followed The Rules.
At least the first two.
