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      June 19, 2022Frank Lloyd Wright PantoumMorgan Eklund

      Frank Lloyd Wright was a terrible father,
      But I like his houses and windows.
      His horizontal lines, I want to be those dark beams.
      I like his late prairie style, the Emil Bach house up the street from where I live.
       
      I like his houses and windows,
      But he abandoned his family in 1909 and left for Europe with his mistress.
      I like his late prairie style, the Emil Bach house up the street from where I live.
      My father has never seen this house, up the street from where I live.
       
      He abandoned his family in 1909 and left for Europe with his mistress.
      How do I still love the houses and windows the terrible father built?
      My father has never seen this house, up the street from where I live.
      Even after the caretaker plants yellow mums in the fall.
       
      How do we still love the houses and windows the terrible father built?
      His horizontal lines, I want to be those dark beams.
      Even after the caretaker plants yellow mums in the fall,
      Frank Lloyd Wright was a terrible father.

      from Poets Respond

      Morgan Eklund

      “The good, the bad, and the ugly—Father’s Day is a moment of celebration or reflection. What does this myth, this statue, this cultural icon mean to me? To better understand my own father, I’ve spent the last few years on a collection of poems about fathers, including this one about Frank Lloyd Wright, whose 155th birthday was last week. The more I look, the more I am sure—I’ll never understand the enigma we call dad.”

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