Bend Don't Break

I love you Dad
It's been a long time
5.4.3.2.1

Poems from a reclusive, living life in a vill secluded
Beer belly protruding, with no time to dwell on the losing
Used to run from the cops, almost got shot over underage drinking
Half my life spent underachieving
Fighting with demons, smiting the lesions
From fast as lightning to barely still breathing
D-1 runner to obviously eating
Heart colder than an Alaskan Winter
Ya'll ready know we having crab for dinner
Passed the jug to Jimmer, took that sip like a pinner
Half an hour later he finished, bring it back to Native owned business
Holding it down in a town where people prefer R&R over the Crown
Probably floating right now, looking for a Coastal like wow
Living life on the River, gave her my heart, Indian Giver
Spent too many years like the ice in April
Sometimes you gotta bend, before life breaks you

So damn thankful
Smile on my face when I could have been hateful
Stuck in my mind, could have been fatal
Sometimes you gotta bend, before life breaks you
So damn thankful
Smile on my face when I could have been hateful
Stuck in my mind, could have been fatal
Sometimes you gotta bend, before life breaks you

I was trapped for years, forgetting how to be me
Toxic tunnel vision, forgetting how to be free
I ain't ever going back to living like that
So I catch them and send them right back
Applying for jobs, never got the call back
Video Production was always the fall back
Left for dead, kicked and forgotten
My better days, was just her plotting
They say one bad apple, spoils the bunch
Find another bad apple, take her to Lunch
Lately I'm nervous about being nervous
Trying to survive another day, without no purpose
Looked my son in the eye, got back to working
The smile I forgot, finally resurfaced
Trying to give that clone a life I never had
And make sure he turns out, better than his Dad

So damn thankful
Smile on my face when I could have been hateful
Stuck in my mind, could have been fatal
Sometimes you gotta bend, before life breaks you
So damn thankful
Smile on my face when I could have been hateful
Stuck in my mind, could have been fatal
Sometimes you gotta bend, before life breaks you

Stuck in the room with nothing to do
Past trauma, jostled some screws
Fucked with my views, supposed to buckle
I chuckled at you, guess I'm blind to a couple of hues
Trying to suckle Bazooms
Gone off of a couple of Brews
Had to log off and lay low
Because they took my Angel and shattered that Halo
If it wasn't for Junior I might have went Seau
Opportunity knocking, known to flake out
Catch me at the Salmon Bake holding a plate out
She high and I could do better, call her baked potato
Chilling with son, they say I cloned
Village where I'm from can finally say I'm home
Emerging from the shadows, finally took the bandage off
And Discovery Channel, finally shut them camera's off

So damn thankful
Smile on my face when I could have been hateful
Stuck in my mind, could have been fatal
Sometimes you gotta bend, before life breaks you
So damn thankful
Smile on my face when I could have been hateful
Stuck in my mind, could have been fatal
Sometimes you gotta bend, before life breaks you