When he wrote ‘Prayer for my daughter’,
Yeats knew everyone has a curse;
ugliness, youth, old age or beauty
fixation, fear, control, abuse
and curses bash exuberance
- so how come Andrew oozes verve
with every glass of lemonade,
or song and any disco dance?
I ask him straight ‘Who teaches best?’
and he replies ‘It’s me, I do!’
‘What do you teach?’ he glances ‘Colours.’
‘which colours?’ and he answers ‘Blue!’
Known as the colour of humility – Blue -
a fractal of love and such a magnificent curse.
Excellent as usual. I have to think that on rare occasions you are unable to maintain this almost saintly interaction w/your son. Those (if they do indeed exist) might make for fertile creativity. All the conflicted emotions, the struggle to be delicate & compassionate versus a base frustration & anger that you must control. I hope I'm not out of line here! Forgive me if I am. No sleep & no inhibitions. I'll regret it later. Anyway, just a comment from a fan who you've brought great joy to & spiritual inspiration
ReplyDeleteThat last line is such a beautiful one. I really enjoy the dialogue between you and your son. Thank you for remembering little things like this in your poems.
ReplyDelete"What do you teach?" he glances "Colours"
ReplyDelete"which colours" and he answers "blue!"
These lines say it all, your son dances to a different drum and that is wonderful.
Thank you for sharing this, I love your words :)
John,
ReplyDeletea wonderful experience of parenthood you've shared.
‘What do you teach?’ he glances ‘Colours.’
‘which colours?’ and he answers ‘Blue!’ - I have my own reasons for liking Andrew's answer so much.
Fergus
True blue!
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful poem.
ReplyDeleteI Like That One Enough To Want To Comment But don't Now Know What To say. So I Asked My Daughter. She Says My Favorite Color Is Also Blue. It Made Me Smile.
ReplyDeleteGreat work, i like to read BLUE.
ReplyDelete