He's In Jail Now Poem by Laurence Overmire

So cute as a baby
If you could have seen him
So innocent and pure

But mother wasn’t there
Too young, too
Well, you know how it goes

Father none, not even sure who
And foster homes, several
Bounced around he, can’t really

Take the place of, why I don’t know
By ten, you could see
His eyes were, how can I say

Already dead, and grandma thinks
That somehow she’s to blame
But then, her mama was never

There, no not really, not for her
Either, not in any, that is
Not in any important way.

Do you know what I mean?


(Previously published in Circle Magazine, Vol.4, Issue 3, Summer 2000)