All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
For my Father
The flickering fluorescent light above your head at halmeoni’s corner shop
probably would’ve driven me up the wall, too.
Others played
soccer or baseball or cello and had time to paint.
You scanned and shelved and counted,
translated and defended and dodged
beer bottles hurled at your face.
Your adolescence picked up by the American Dream and crunched despite
never being accepted in America, never just a face in the crowd
Always a peony among roses.
The American Dream dangled
before you
You were told no distractions. Chase
your studies not women.
No art. It’s useless anyway.
So you left the house for college
But got a call two years later
Your father is ill
He fell off a roof
Probably too drunk
So you have to come back to support your mother and sister
No longer able to afford tuition anyway
You worked and worked and worked and worked
The bills still piled up
You took a second job
You tightroped on the poverty line
All to give me, my brothers, my sisters books
Pencils
To fill in the rungs of the ladder that were missing for you.
You hold back tears as we climb up,
Waving to us from the bleak, patchy ground
Which is why I, your poet child, hope to enrich your world through my art
And cultivate a Garden for us to come home to.
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 0 comments.