You Look Like the Man Who Took My Son

I’m sorry, you look

Like the man

Who took my son

He pulled up to my house

One day

It was hot out

We were out in the yard

And he pulled up

And he yelled to my son

And my son, he--

My son, he turned to me

And he told me

He was leaving

I felt bad, you know

I felt bad

Keeping him there

In the yard

It’s not--

It’s not like

We were doing anything

And I felt bad

Asking him to stay with me

Stay bored

There wasn’t---

We weren’t doing anything

And he said he was going

To get food or something

Or I thought he said that

But I also sort of remember

In another version

In my mind

I remember him

Not saying anything

Other than

‘Bye Mom’

He got in the car

The car drove off

I never saw him again

You look like the man

Who pulled up

In the car

The one who would call me

And tell me

My son was all right

But he didn’t want

To come back

And that he didn’t have to

Because he was an adult

He wasn’t an adult

He was my son

I don’t care

I don’t care about age

About

About birthdays

About how many he had

We never had

Birthdays for him

Because I didn’t like him

Getting older

I didn’t like

Seeing him outgrow

His clothes

And I stopped sending him

To school

Because they wouldn’t listen

To what I had to say

When I would tell them

That he was my son

And that they were trying

To make him

Something other than

Do you understand that?

Something other than

When he went missing

Somebody called the police

I bet the man

I bet the man you look like

The one who took

My son

I bet he called them

Because they wouldn’t look

For my son

They told me

That my son

Could do whatever

He wanted

Just like the man said

And none of them are right

Because I’m his mother

I’m his mother

And I had him out in the yard

And I felt the way his arm

Was in pain

While I was holding onto it

Telling him

He couldn’t go

Even though there’s another part

That knows

I let him go

Because I love him

And I wanted him to go

And there’s a version

Where there’s nobody in the car

And my son gets in

And he’s the one

Who drives away from me

But I don’t like that version of it

So I just sit

And think about how I sat that day

How I sat for hours

And waited

For the man you look like

To bring my son back

And now here you are

You’re back

Or you look like you’re back

You look like him

But who knows?

I suppose there’s no way

To really know

Who

You are