Photo credit: Texting Rothko SFMOMA, flickr cc2.0
Our Fathers
Our fathers
who left us,
abandoned us,
loved us,
wanted us,
hated us,
spanked us,
hugged us,
Our fathers
who loved our mothers,
beat our mothers
stayed out too late,
or came home too early,
who paid our bills,
and withdrew affection,
Our fathers
who were disappointed in us,
were proud of us,
who could not accept our love,
who couldn’t give any to us either,
Our fathers who went to war,
or stayed home,
Our fathers
who held us awkwardly when we were tiny,
held our hands when we first walked,
Who didn’t care,
who weren’t there,
with forgotten dreams,
who worked to early deaths,
who wanted our love, and couldn’t tell us,
whose daily bread sometimes nourished us,
Hallowed be thy names
Karen Kenyon
Karen Kenyon is the author of Sunshower (a memoir), G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NY; The Brontë Family/Passionate Literary Geniuses, Lerner Publications, Minn. and Endeavor Media, London; and Charles Dickens/Compassion and Contradiction, Endeavor Media, London. She has features published in Newsweek; British Heritage; The Christian Science Monitor; and other publications. Her poetry has been in small journals, The Christian Science Monitor, and San Diego Free Press. She currently teaches for UCSD-X; SDSU’s Osher program; and SD Writers Ink.
Latest posts by Karen Kenyon (see all)
- ‘Seize the King’ at La Jolla Playhouse: Self-Righteousness, Greed and Lust for Power - September 12, 2018
- Our Fathers - June 16, 2018
- ‘Community Hero’ Attorney Steve Binder and San Diego’s Homeless Court Program - April 18, 2018
It appears that a tradition has been established which marks Father’s Day as an opportunity to dump on them. Here is just one more example. This never occurs on Mother’s Day, I guess, because all moms are great, right?
I feel sorry for you, alnc. This must have touched a nerve. I feel the poet was expressing a varied view of fathers. Fathers in past generations were not always as available or accessible as mothers because of society’s structure.