Three Poems for Father’s Day

ON MISSING MY FATHER

Gone five years,
there are days
I pick up the phone
right before dinner

just to talk.

A personal favorite, written in about 1995, just before my oldest son got his driver’s license.

THE LAUGH

My father and I
shared a laugh today,
our first in many years.

I felt him over my shoulder
as I vacuumed the car
for my son’s first date.

“Since when is this my job?”
I grumbled, and then, right there
was when he laughed.

And I realized he had vacuumed cars
for girls I’ve long since forgotten
and he had never known.

And the moment was so perfect,
and I hugged him,
and he was gone again.

Last week I posted an early draft of another Father’s Day poem; below I am posting a revised – and better – version of that same poem. Though it often can’t be helped, a poet should never fall in love with a poem until it’s been revised dozens and dozens of times.

ANCESTRAL WISDOM
(Leader of the Band, Dan Fogelberg)

The songs are suddenly
no longer about our fathers
and no longer make us sad
we did not say I love you
or express our gratitude
for all they had done.

The same songs now fuel
our fear of being forgotten
and we whisper fervent prayers
that as the generations pass
our own songs and stories
might be heard and understood
as gifts received grudgingly
but passed on eagerly at the end.

(all poems by Joseph Neely)

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My book, SLOW RIVERS, can be ordered through your local bookstore or online via bookshop.org. (ISBN 979-8-218-43822-7). Please note that the poems in this blog post do not appear in SLOW RIVERS.

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Joseph Neely, all rights reserved.

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