Jonathan was a friend I met while at Lowell House Men’s Recovery Home. When he got there his kids were with strangers, he didn’t even have visitation privileges. Their mother wasn’t in the picture. Over the course of several months Jonathan went through a lot of work to get visitation, custody, employment, and housing for him and his kids. I saw him, his son, and his daughter April 23, 2019 at a dinner at the Recovery Home for graduates. Everything was going well. He overdosed and died about a week later.
Thanks for taking us to that dinner, Dad
Back where you used to live
We played on the floor with your friend
And that stupid Dexter cat
That used to make you sneeze
Sneaked looks at the weird White guys
That think they’re cool, cuz they wear ‘our’ clothes, right Dad?
You joked about doing dishes, sneaking food, and smoking where you weren’t ‘sposed to
A lady let me make PBJs, and we served them like fancy desserts, on a tray
And played a game with a pretty bald lady, who smiled like she liked us
They talked to you different Dad, like proud, we were too.
What did we do Dad?
Were the PBJs no good?
Did we color outside the lines?
I thought we said thank you and please
I’da picked up my clothes faster Dad
Or not fell behind at the mall
Sometimes I stopped just to watch you walk
Your head up finally, for once
We woulda done better Dad.
But you left us again.
It woulda been better, Dad, if you never came back at all
May 1, 2019