Remembering dad on Father's Day. 
 

It’s empty now

Sagging and tearing

At the seams

If I close my eyes

Just for a moment

I can see you

 

Pipe chugging away —

You

Half painted in the shadows

Sitting in your favorite

Armchair

 

You are telling me

To pull my socks up

I am not wearing any

But I start tugging at them anyway

 

You laugh

That same smoke filled chuckle

I think you have put weight on

Perhaps you should loosen

Your belt buckle?

 

"Stop fussing, girl!

— What the doctor doesn’t 

Know, can’t hurt."

There’s pipe ash

Eating into your faded blue shirt

 

I want to hug you

Kiss your prickly face

Scratch my chin afterwards

While feeling the imprint

Of your embrace

 

Instead

I open my eyes

Rearrange the cushions

Close the door behind me

And carry your memory away …

In my head. 

C.K.23.