“THAT’S MY DAD”
for Gus
Ours was often a wordless language,
Whole conversations shared in the space
Between the hook flying from the rod,
To the splashdown in the water,
And in the waiting for the pull from some
Invisible place beneath the surface, or
Maybe the realization it wouldn’t happen.
Not always deep—sometimes anger tore
Through the mind like the hook’s barb;
Other times gratitude slapped one awake.
Or, like now, resting my hand on the glassy
Arm of an old rocking chair he’d worked
Nights sanding and smoothing,
Caning and coating,
And when this heirloom was passed down,
My few words, “I’ll take care of it”
Were all that broke the surface.
That memory shook me watching a father on stage,
Talking tirelessly of building a team,
The hands of the son pointing, shaking,
In the audience sobbing, three words pushing
Past the hard glass surface of men,
A whole universe on the other side.
—from Poets Respond
__________
D.A. Gray: “Gus Walz’s outpouring of emotion during his father’s speech at the DNC convention touched a lot of hearts but it also caused many adults to reflect on the repressed emotions in their own experience, and to see a stark contrast in the choices facing us—fearless caring, or a culture of fear shaped by toxic masculinity.”
