Dad—

That night you drove your car into a ditch
is now family myth. Creation tale. Disaster
that birthed our second coming & another DUI,
jail time, state-ordered counseling, the erratic
road to recovery. So often I’ve imagined
you, passed out in your junk car with no heat
on a snowy Illinois night. The peace of a death,
one of many. Then your waking in the dark,
the pounding of something like epiphany
in the lump on your forehead. In the myth,