Adrianna Gordey
Daffy Duck Darkness
Dad defined his depression
with an allusion to Daffy Duck:
it’s like the episode where the cartoonist
strips Daffy of a background, Porky,
plot, & leaves him to rip apart
the blackness all alone. No Bugs
or anvils to crack open the skull
& reveal where the brain’s maze
hid happiness. Daffy has to defend
his reality, semblance of self, worth
to the pencil erasing existence.
Dad discovered safety & serenity
in smoking & shooting, the webs
between toes a portal to escape
his stepfather’s swing & his mother’s
unanswered telephone rings.
When I was five, Dad & I strolled
through the pharmacy. As Dad
reached for a five-pack of needles,
I cried over for Looney Tunes
Band-Aids. His hand hesitated
before the canyon drop of addiction,
but we left with Daffy’s smile blazing
through the plastic bag.
Dad defined his depression
with an allusion to Daffy Duck:
it’s like the episode where the cartoonist
strips Daffy of a background, Porky,
plot, & leaves him to rip apart
the blackness all alone. No Bugs
or anvils to crack open the skull
& reveal where the brain’s maze
hid happiness. Daffy has to defend
his reality, semblance of self, worth
to the pencil erasing existence.
Dad discovered safety & serenity
in smoking & shooting, the webs
between toes a portal to escape
his stepfather’s swing & his mother’s
unanswered telephone rings.
When I was five, Dad & I strolled
through the pharmacy. As Dad
reached for a five-pack of needles,
I cried over for Looney Tunes
Band-Aids. His hand hesitated
before the canyon drop of addiction,
but we left with Daffy’s smile blazing
through the plastic bag.
Adrianna Gordey (she/her) is a writer based in Manhattan, Kansas. When she isn't writing poetry, Adrianna can be found daydreaming about the Atlantic ocean, assembling overly ambitious Halloween costumes, or reading young adult fiction. Her poetry has previously appeared in Lammergeier, the Connecticut River Review, the Poeming Pigeon, and Passengers Journal; it is forthcoming in Grim & Gilded and Touchstone Literary Magazine.