RH Plessy
03-19-2008, 03:08 PM
This is the first poem I've ever really shared with anyone else. Opinions?
Curse of an Aged Father
He knew the capital of Kazakhstan
and where the ships in the Caspian sailed
He eased the lid off even the most stubborn jar
and carried the heaviest bags, filled to the brim with groceries,
without ever breaking a sweat
Now, he knew neither time nor place
The walker they had given him lay cast aside,
forgotten in the corner of a room that reeked of age and sickness
The other daughters there
were struggling with midlife crises and menopause
I was not yet old enough
to drink my sorrows away
They told my mother, his wife
"Your father is doing well"
He resented her for their ignorance
She resented him for putting her there
He was weak, so weak
and yet it was I
who could not lift a finger
Curse of an Aged Father
He knew the capital of Kazakhstan
and where the ships in the Caspian sailed
He eased the lid off even the most stubborn jar
and carried the heaviest bags, filled to the brim with groceries,
without ever breaking a sweat
Now, he knew neither time nor place
The walker they had given him lay cast aside,
forgotten in the corner of a room that reeked of age and sickness
The other daughters there
were struggling with midlife crises and menopause
I was not yet old enough
to drink my sorrows away
They told my mother, his wife
"Your father is doing well"
He resented her for their ignorance
She resented him for putting her there
He was weak, so weak
and yet it was I
who could not lift a finger