Fathers: A Collection of Poems

by David Ray (Editor), Judy Ray (Editor)

A collection of poetry echoes the themes of fatherly love and childhood devotion, desertion, communication between generations, and the challenge of healing old grievances

Genres: Poetry

254 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1997

Reviews

[James Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up a mint condition, used copy of this book in a bargain basement a few years ago. There is an inscription in it that is heartbreaking to me:

"To Dad. Love: Elizabeth 12-25-2003"

It's heartbreaking because all the evidence suggests the spine of the book was never broken. What father wouldn't dream of a daughter like Elizabeth--a daughter with the audacity and love to give her Dad a book of poems, a collection that celebrates, laments, hymns and chastises fathers? What sort of a father could leave this unread? Elizabeth: you deserve better.

But I'm grateful to the bibliogods that brought me to this little volume, which I return to again and again. It was in this anthology that I first encountered Albert Goldbarth (his serious, tongue-in-cheek poem, "Sentimental"). But what's mostly great about this book is the long parade of poets unknown to me, and probably largely unknown to many, who nonetheless consider fatherhood from also every possible angle and emotion. This is no extended-Hallmark sappy homage to mythical fathers none of us had or are. It's honest in both its critique and praise. Let me share just one example:

CERTAIN PEOPLE
By Richard Jones

My father lives by the ocean
and drinks his morning coffee
in the full sun on his deck,
speaking to anyone
who walks by on the beach.
Afternoons he works
part-time at the golf course,
sailing the fairways like a sea captain
in a white golf cart.
My father must talk
to a hundred people a day,
yet we haven't spoken in weeks.
As I grow older, we hardly talk at all.
I wonder,
if I were a tourist on the beach
or a golfer lost in the woods
meeting him for the first time,
how his hand would feel in mine
as we introduced ourselves,
what we'd say to each other,
if we'd speak or if we'd talk>,
and if, as sometimes happens
with certain people, I'd feel,
when I looked him in the eye,
I'd known him all my life.

[Caitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I should have seen this coming, but it turns out most people's poems about their father's are, like, really melancholy. So that's not really my jam. But some of these were real gems!

[Yvonne O'Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of poems about fathers. Good and bad, present and absent, all are represented.

The collection had too many negative views to be of any real interest to me.

[Ler · Rating 4 out of 5]

lengthy but pretty prose. bought at the last bookstore. some favorites:
terminal, floyd skloot
sentimental, albert goldbarth
your true island, mia leonin
mariah, brandel france de bravo