Photo: August Sanders.
'Don't be such a fucking poof!
Be like me, Son,
Long in the tooth.
Why don't you go off
and bake a cake
with your Mum?'
He kneel's out of sight
continuing to cement the brick
wall he's building between us.
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2 comments:
I liked this one. But keep in your head that all faithers love their sons. Regardless!
This is very effective. It might have a broader appeal if you changed ‘poof’ to ‘woose’ or something like that but I know exactly where you’re coming from. My father was very much a man’s man and as much as I know he always loved me – Jimmy’s right there – I was also acutely aware that I was always a disappointment to him. This reminded me of a poem I wrote many years ago that also involves bricks:
FOR MY FATHER
Dutifully I dial the number and ask for him.
He answers and
brick by brick we build a conversation.
Progressively the pauses
become more frequent
and intense.
Finally we replace our receivers,
each regretting not having said
what he had no words to say.
Somehow I love him
yet cannot reach him.
8 June 1979
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