>>> Poets Unlimited’s “Editor’s Pick” For Father’s Day 2016<<<

EDITOR’s PICK: My Father Visiting Me at College for the First Time

I wait here father and remember you

holding an ax like a flag above your head.

The tree spread open and split into twos,

threes then logs we stacked for a penny apiece.

I remember the ax that cleaved your ankle.

The night of helicopters circling

in your dreams like mosquitos. The peel

of morning too slowly crossing the ocean.

I remember the crackle of cedar, maple and pine

sliced for every fire we ever slept near,

every room we lived in and all our dreams.

Your knock at my door sounds woody and strong.

Your hug, a hollowed tree where I belong.