Joe and Carole

Setting aside the shit show

So wrong and glorious

“Feast your eyes on the gay redneck and that schemin’ beeitch”

Know that when Joe and Carole

Were teens they went through tragic times

And as their lives took sharp turns

They were shamed and wounded,

Banished and driven by passion and spite.

According to Joe

He knew he was gay at 13:

“When my father found out

He made me shake his hand

In front of my mother

And promise not to come to his funeral.”

That tormented Joe until one night,

To hell with it,

He drove his car off a bridge.

Joe broke his back,

Five years of rehab took him to Florida

Where a neighbor ran a Safari

And let him pet exotic animals.

As for Carole:

“I had been raped at knifepoint

By three men that lived across the street

When I was 14.”

She got victim blamed by Mom and Dad

Christian fanatics

Who said she must have been asking for it.

To be raped at knifepoint.

Carole left home a year later

Married into abuse in the big city

And one night when she was 20

She stormed out of a fight and went on a frantic walk

When she was spotted by Don,

Her future hubby,

Circling the block, on the prowl, saying:

“Get in and you can point this gun at me.”

Don was worth millions

So he could splurge on big cats.

Now what if

Joe’s parents told him it’s OK to be gay,

And Carole’s parents

Had any sense of compassion, reason, justice?

And yeah...

Joe and Carole are accountable for the shit show

—Same—

But maybe just maybe

We got to judge them &

Call them crazy

Because Mom and Dad broke their hearts.