By: Noel Nephew
The death of Robin Williams was like the death in the family.
He was the father figure I never had, and suddenly he was gone.
Suicide, they said. Tears of a clown.
I know those tears well. That
sudden, silent, sadness after a night of performing for others
I learned early on that I couldn’t be the pretty one
So it was important that I became funny.
The depression that arrived in my twenties made it harder
to make this monkey dance.
Thank God for SSRIs
My actual father died as soon as child support was done.
And all he left me was his weak ankles,
at least, according to my mother.
I wouldn’t know, I never met that guy