Like Father, Like Son.

by TriO

Published February 3, 2011

In The \'Better\' Poems

It's funny,
a fickle, fallous failure of a father,
can call the resolution
to claim the retribution
of his standing in the eyes of his son.

He overlooks foresight - blind at best,
says his part, takes a step, pauses.
The son still motionless, looks deep
into cold eyes, anxious not of response,
but of speedy acceptance, and nothing more.

This man before him is neither a stranger,
nor the figure he once knew, but alas' a
fragment of his former self, a being that
was chipped before by the piercings of a mother,
long since gone.

Silence, not awkward, expected,
is the only audacity beyond the sins of the father.
The brutality of the crimes against loves and lives
beg no explaining in the light of his 'honesty'.
A mother's resolve, to protect her child, is a force
unto another until they are unbalanced.

Resolve is but hope; hope is but warranted,
to keep the child from feeling the other force.
The son has grown cold to it, not caring or yearning
for it to be different; he just wants it to stop.
The bruises of the past will remain just that;
no need to pick at a wound no longer there.

The son shakes his head solemnly, and turns on his heels.
The father collapses into a chair by the fire,
as the boy picks up the phone, dials '999', and just for a moment,
tears roll down grated cheeks.
"I'm sorry, son."
"I'm not."

Spoiler! :
This poem is about the awkward revelation by an abusive father to his abused son, that he caused his mother's death. Although he tries to be sincere, the father is very cold about the matter, and the boy refuses his apology. The son calls the police, whilst the father is lost in his sadness.

Comments & reviews · 4
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PandaAiKorai
Review
PandaAiKorai wrote a review Review · Feb 3, 2011

I understood the meaning behind the poem, before reading the spoiler, though it did fill some gaps. Whether or not you're into this sort of thing, the rhythm of the poem sounds like a rap. That's just my personal opinion. I found nothing to be particular about, and did enjoy reading this sad piece. Keep writing.

~Panda;;

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WaywardBird
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WaywardBird commented Comment · Feb 3, 2011

Good, good work. It's the type of thing I imagine myself reading in an English class textbook, with the words flowing the the meanings behind them not totally clear, but deffinately there. It's great, simply that

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writeitalldown
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writeitalldown commented Comment · Feb 3, 2011

So, sad. I promise to comment later, after my head is clear.

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jcipriano1
Review
jcipriano1 wrote a review Review · Feb 3, 2011

This is an unusually rare, remarkably sad poem that certainly portrays extreme amounts of emotion. The end dialogue of this poem just splits the reader's heart into two, giving the poem a shockingly miserably tone in the last lines and sends shivers down my spine. Great work!



Y'know, sometimes a family is a mutant superhuman clown with cartoony powers, a hyperactive shapeshifter created in a lab, the ghost of an artificially created being who only exists for exposition, a cat who is an eldritch god for some reason, and an emo guy who doesn't canonically exist
— GengarIsBestBoy