words for my father
	I
double edge words
charcoal in an 81/2 by 11
I want to see my father
touch his face
trace his eye-wrinkles 
with my fingertips
instead 
I trace letters
	II
double edge words
can push someone off their home
can push someone off
and far
from father and home-land
my sister and I left you father
look back take
	last snap shot 
	sloppy black hair
	slant sad brown eyes like mine 
		I still remember
	cries echo on walls
mom squeezes tight so my sister 
so I won't cry
you can call 
you can write
words 
deserts in 
between us
	III
write
to him
I tell and tell and tell my sister
write 
to him
go further than your
yes
no
bye and hang the phone
write dad a letter
a word
to get him up
and off the bottle
a letter to him
before we get one about him
about him and 40oz of hard liquor 
whirling in his stomach
drowning the memories of you and me
you and me in the park 
you and me in his arms
write
so he will turn to your words
and not to the bottle in the brown paper bag
I know he would read the letter out loud
repeat it
over and over again
like a prayer

Agustín Palacios
p4p  5/7/2001