my arms can’t shield you through this battle
but I’ll protect you with my love
through scoffs and taunts until 3pm.
I am a father’s heartbreak at every schoolyard
coaching my child through cruel untruths
'I'm too fat, too slow, too different.'
I am every father who has counselled since dawn
exhausted and broken from pleas of
'Please Dad, I don’t want to go back'
but I do as every father must
exude encouragement through the bars
You are strong, boy, you got this
then slide my smile until 3pm
when the process starts
all over again.