Not as far as I thought
Scattered about like signposts
are men resembling my dead father,
before a traffic jam of years
parked on his shoulders.
I wouldn’t let age
maul the image of a man
who, when alive,
could never dodge anything.
With workman’s cap trademarks,
their faces always avert, divulge nothing,
as tacit as father’s affections
that we only sensed.
These clones are soundless,
as befits a man who hoarded words,
but even silence confesses
if you know how to listen.
After all these years,
memories are his mouthpiece
for what he could never say.
He’s not as far as I thought.
Page(s) 61
magazine list
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