<div class="line">“Bought them in a minute and a half,” he says,</div>
<div class="line">“for thirty-three dollars Canadian.”</div>
<div class="line">My father proudly shows me his new shoes,</div>
<div class="line">which I admire.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">The next day he asks me to try them on.</div>
<div class="line">He wants to give them to me.</div>
<div class="line">I wiggle my left big toe against the leather.</div>
<div class="line">“A little large,” I say.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">I have given my father many gifts—birthday dinners,</div>
<div class="line">daily telephone calls, vacations, a new car.</div>
<div class="line">My father has given me genes for a long life,</div>
<div class="line">the values of thrift, generosity, and honesty,</div>
<div class="line">but the greatest gift is his pride and confidence in me.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">Today my father says,</div>
<div class="line">“I appreciate everything you have given me.</div>
<div class="line">There’s just one thing …”</div>
<div class="line">“Yes? I ask.</div>
<div class="line">“I only wish,” he sighs, “that my father had accepted</div>
<div class="line">what I tried to give to him.”</div>


Wide-Hipped Women in Stucco

Last Reach

My Father’s Shoes

<div class="line">torment doesn’t wound</div>
<div class="line">terribly, terribly soon</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">when dribbled slowly</div>
<div class="line">in or out of tune—</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">hush by hush</div>
<div class="line">rune by rune</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">until this dish</div>
<div class="line">ran away with a spoon</div>


Super Dad Haiku

Call Me By My Name

Stainless

<div class="line">We met in rooms</div>
<div class="line">for the very sad time</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">the home we shared</div>
<div class="line">for thirty-odd years.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">Our tears were not</div>
<div class="line">for all we had lost,</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">but washed against</div>
<div class="line">all that might have been.</div>


The Climb

The Nets

Today

Channellock Pliers

After Easter

A Conversation with Daniel Berrigan

<div class="line">Now into limbo depth of time</div>
<div class="line">Is fled that soul which had a man</div>
<div class="line">And silent, empty, earth pressed bone</div>
<div class="line">Remains, to learn decay alone.</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">Where to, where from, where hence, where gone</div>
<div class="line">None other knows, or cares, or can,</div>
<div class="line">A grab bag chance, a sack of skin,</div>
<div class="line">To mask our come, and going in.</div>


A Prayer for Ducks

Enchilada Night

Ashes to …

<p>I like to watch my wife when<br />
she walks around our bedroom<br />
naked before preparing<br />
for the day or for the night.</p>
<p>Perhaps she appeals to my<br />
sexual lust, or sense of aesthetics,<br />
or intimacy, careless of the hiding<br />
which otherwise rules our lives.</p>
<p>Which is why I write poems<br />
Which is why I watch movies<br />
Which is why I am silent<br />
until I whisper this to you.</p>


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December 9, 2010I Like to WatchAlan Fox

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December 9, 2010I Like to WatchAlan Fox

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My Father’s Shoes by Alan Fox

Stainless by Alan Fox

Today by Alan Fox

A Conversation with Daniel Berrigan by Alan Fox