Fathers Day Poem 2013

shouldn’t there be a fathers day for fathers lost

like the old bald man with shaky hands

who sat on the roof with me that sunny perfect october afternoon

listening to the sony transistor radio as brooklyn dodger after brooklyn dodger

went down swinging even jackie robinson couldn’t get a hit

even jackie robinson couldn’t get to first base

dad you explained to me baseball history was going down in yankeetown

and yes I’ve been a yankee fan since 1956

I wonder what you would think if you knew don larsen’s

jersey was auctioned on ebay for $756,000

more dollars than you made all those years banging away

on your old remington typewriter at the newspaper office

the place you gave your soul to

but I’m not complaining because you took me along

you taught me everything I know

except spelling because you always corrected my copy

that never stopped me though I thank you not just for the skills

the hard work focus fair play but more for the standing up for oneself

you screamed go to hell and slammed down the phone

when disagreeable readers called you at home

I’m still really sorry dad I really did want to win a pulitzer prize

before you died a way I thought to repay you though I never did and never will

I called you every fathers day

until you were gone

then I called my father-in-law the grocery store man

yes even after I was divorced I still called him on fathers day

I called him dad I reminded him

how we sat in his backyard after the barbeque was over

eating more corn on the cob

dad I’d say you always had the sweetest corn the fattest steaks

the most gracious style for a father of four rambunctious girls

the most beautiful lebanese wife this side of the red sea

who I still call mom

how we also had fun eating thin slices of frozen raw liver

followed by shots of old crow on new years eve

which he claimed was a middle eastern tradition some tradition

you made this up didn’t you  

I can still hear your chuckle

so swell to have known someone with such a chuckle

you taught me life can be joyful if you just look at it that way

the first fathers day when both my dads were gone

I cried thinking how dignified they looked in their caskets

one dad with double breasted suit colorful wide striped silk tie

the other in crisp army uniform that still fit perfectly

the greatest American generation returned to earth

destroyers of nazis

so naturally I turned to my sons and sons-in-law

determined to be a good father just like my dads were to me

I called jeff in utah

thank you jeff my granddaughters in utah have such a hard working dad

who keeps bread on the table

I called charles in california thank you charles my granddaughters

in california have such a fun dad

who commands respect and takes no prisoners

and I called john in missouri

thank you john all those grandchildren you’ve adopted more than I can ever hope

to keep track of

have such a big hearted dad

but now its 2013 and this particular fathers day is simply too much to bear

I once naively thought nothing could be more sad when old dads die

but now I know it’s sadder still when young dads die

hey charles where are you

why did you go so soon what’s with this cancer you had

you were the one dad who lived nearby who I could count on

for basketball games late nights at the bar hanging out

in my backyard always there for your girls you never missed

the violin recitals you took them to capoeira made sure they behaved

charles you were so creative coming up with nicknames

ruglebug for jamaica, inzahzi-ali for xaire,

t2 for the dog jk for your mom-in-law jackie

you should have made it big in some naming agency

nicknames for everyone but me you simply called me david

from you I always felt such great respect

but thank you anyway for sharing mutual adulation for cassius clay

rumble in the jungle you said you hung out with the champ in miami or was it la

thrilla in Manila float like butterfly slay the big ugly bear and we all know the rest

i imagine you must be roaming around some heavenly man-fatherland

with my dear son aaron

who at age 26 went to sleep in his fancy room at the waldorf astoria and never woke up

with your brother eddie cut down at 19

our friend scuba-diver-brad recently drowned at sea

three potential dads checked out early

no I don’t think I’ll bother this father’s day

grilling burgers or going to the ole ball game oh I’ll make a few calls

but mostly i’ll just reflect on all those fathers

and would be fathers lost