Poetry Month

April is poetry month. I like to write poetry, though I'm not very good at it. I'm gearing up to write a few even so. Here's one I wrote yesterday.

A Man Passes by the Coffee Shop with a Small Dog

Men used to be embarrassed to walk dogs like those,
little yippers you can tuck into a purse,
but there's a guy who looks okay with it, I guess.
I can't imagine my dad putting up with it.
“That's not a dog,” he'd say.
He liked animals with some heft to them.
On the orphange farm he had a hog named “Big Red”,
as close to a pet as an orphan gets.
Though he wasn't strictly an orphan, exactly,
but a boy whose mother
locked the house behind her one day,
left while he was at school,
and the soap from the breakfast dishes still melting in the sink.

It was his job to feed the hog, water him.
They ate him, eventually –
all those mouths to feed and whatnot.

We never had a dog, growing up.
My dad didn't like the responsibility,
didn't like the house with its creaky oil-burning boiler,
the corner lot that always needed mowing.
We had a cat, though, who died at an old age.
He was a mean sonofabitch; he bit,
and he'd have scratched if he had claws.
He only liked my dad.

I recall sitting in the car
outside the vet's office, a late fall day.
The vet met us in the parking lot
and my dad handed him the dying cat.
Then my father got back in the car.
Hunched over the wheel,
shoulders shaking,
he covered his face in shame.

Comments

[Ms Sparrow]

Wow, on re-reading it I noticed how the mood shifts as you progress.
It goes from an unknown man casually walking a little dog to your father, forlorn at the loss of a cat. Have you wondered why he chose to share that moment with you? You must have meant something very special to him.

[children have talent]

Hi,

I don’t have your contact info. That’s the only reason I am using comment section. I am also a parent and really admiring you the way you are handling and taking care of your kid.

I have just started a ChildrenHaveTalent blog especially for children who are living with disability and/or health conditions. Here parents will be able to add their child’s talent in various categories like singing, painting, drawing and so on.
Please try to use this blog.
My main goal is to reach out all the parents so that they can start using this blog to give their kid a new horizon.
If possible please give me some feedback as a parent did you like this idea?

Blog Name: Children Have Talent
Blog URL: http://childrenhavetalent.blogspot.com/

Thanks,

Nupur