Backbone Daddy Poem by Kelly Zion

My backbone daddy has my back
he watches over my bones
my backbone daddy is alive
under a cemetery stone
my backbone daddy
has a backbone

he has my backbone.

My backbone daddy never existed
somewhere in the pouring rain a memorial glistens;
a jacket, a drenched coat,
an armbone and a backbone;
a jacket that's so cold because it only held skin and bones
a jacket from someone's daddy who I'll never even know
when it rained I put on your broken overcoat,
but there was no daddy, I just found the bones
and I hurt my Baby and screamed in the rain
because there was nothing I could use to cover the pain

a little girl alone held above the water
by a dead body who called himself her father
why couldn't you let me go so I could sink under?
you never held me up anyway, you never were my father
the backbone I found I keep in my pocket
the backbone I let call me his daughter
(actually, he calls me his kitten)
and I call him My Baby, my backbone daddy;
I'll never hurt you again

Oh, My Baby, my Backbone Daddy,
I'll never hurt you again.