Portrait of My Father
The man was a landlocked sailor.
A runaway who never left home.
He never asked a question he couldn’t
answer himself. Once upon a time
was just a way to get started.
There are man made islands in Florida.
There is a naval base on Guam.
After a few years of three martini lunches
he had to spend a few years at home.
Then it was cigarette smoke, jig saw
puzzles and a tiny black and white T.V.
And every night before dinner he would say
wash your hands Roger. My name
is not Roger. None of my siblings
are named Roger. Nobody I knew
was named Roger.
© Patrick Meeds
Patrick Meeds lives in Syracuse, NY and studies writing at the Syracuse YMCA’s Downtown Writer’s Center. He has been previously published in Stone Canoe literary journal, the New Ohio Review, Tupelo Quarterly, the Atticus Review, Whiskey Island, Guernica, The Pinch, and Nine Mile Review among others. His first book The Invisible Man’s Tailor is due out from Nine Mile Press in 2025.
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