New Picture Poem

Here's another moving picture poem by one of the workshop members:

-Letter to the First Woman in My Life-

Dear Ma,

I hope you remember me
your good ol' son alfred whinaryd
I remember you, you left when I was 7, 30 years ago
My life turned out peachy. I'm just like Pa
smoking 2 packs of 5 stars a day like a smoke signal and drinking my jim
Bean outside like it was never ending on the porch scratching my belly as if to
Claw out my sins.
And just like you and Pa I had a son too, his name's
Benjamine.
When I sober up I play ball with him in the yard, and
When he's a good boy I don't just wait till I'm sober--
I play drunk as hell until recently I just use the bat as a
Walkin' stick.
My wife Cassandra, Cass for short is an amazing trail-
blazer of a woman.
She has that outspoken streak in her just like you.
When I'm really drunk I beat her a few times, but when I
sober up from good ol' Jim Bean I'm awful nice.
One thing I wished that happened 30 years ago is that
you should have taken me with you. I could have avoided
Pa and his mean words, who knows who I could have turned out to
be, I'm afraid she might leave me, like you Ma, she's just like you.