Origin story, more a big hole of lacunae
‘80s kid in college tryna do right
Dad drank, Mom suffered through nights
Bad days, strange choices cruise by, playboy not too wise
1994 in the cold, memorize the code - criminal
Wanna be police, he’d call it life dream, pivotal
But never said why, and soon the nights seem seminal,
If a girl tells him he’s nice then he might be skeptical
An ex-cheerleader type graduate with problems of her own
They hang out and soon Mark gets to sees the light
A charming guy who got a few weird phenotypes, nothing very
Serious, the girl don’t penalize.
Within the month there’s a short pause
She needs to see him in person, he’s feeling worse off
Stomach backflipping, yeah, fuck, kid’s a poor SOB
Oh god, you’re not pregnant, are you? Of course not

Then the changing of seasons
He quit all his classes and never gave them a reason
Kid is shit out of passion to spurn his awful lot in life
Plays MMOs for days and work a shitty job at night
Forklift operation, years die
Helps when everything you know is nearby
Nearsighted thinking that he sees the world with clear eyes
And still no one’s reported if they see flaws or hear sighs, weaksauce career flies
One day online and the mood pops
After seventeen years, the other fucking shoe drops
Broken condom - failed birth control - then some new talk
About a kid who’s interested in info, wanna do swaps
He reels back, not a man for kids or relations
But learns another man adopted his son and had raised him
And the kid’s grown, what the fuck is Mark gonna do
Life’s a stage, fraid he only played the parts that he knew

Now he’s left with only end results, pacing floors
Moments of redemption lost, no desire for making more
But here’s a chance to maybe score a hit back
Calling mom a whore, communication lines pitch black
Big spat - mad father’s rite of pass
Like how in holy fuck had she decided that?
Damn, if this was someone else’s problem then he might have laughed
Fuck your blood test, deleting emails without writing back
Keeping to the silent path and see if freakin lies’ll last
The next week was filled up with intermittent contact
All one-way, short followups his kid had written compact
Start nice, but as Mark sits on his ass for weeks
Olive branches can grow thorns and soon the asks have teeth
Like I can understand the little slights at my mom
She didn’t want to end your life, but you’re right the lying was wrong
And in your place I would at least want to Skype with my spawn
I made a few short stories, and now I’m writing some songs

And fuck, come on man, I don’t believe you don’t have questions,
I’ve done too much in 17 years for glass defenses
Man, all I want to know is where I’m from and what I’m heading to
For years I’ve tried to find you, Mark, I hoped I might be getting through
But fuck that, if you don’t have the time for some adopted kid
I’ll take my lessons distant and in time become your opposite
Shape my life without your help, and you get back to clocking in
And don’t think on your deathbed I’ll be showing up for talking with
That’s the end, a family suffers long erosion
Grandpa keeps him secret, Grandma doesn’t want to know him
He can’t say for certain cousins know he exists
One man’s tantrum throwing thick curtains over his kid

Origin story, more a big hole of lacunae
A kid heading for college tryna do right
Dad’s great, Mom loves him, kid brother’s too wise
But closing doors on roots of his tree can take a few tries
2013 in the dark, kid’s up and now he’s come to push free of a mark
Misbegotten.
Want to be a writer, get beast with his art
Tells himself that every venture looks bleak at the start, reason departs.