I'm Trying to Write a Poem

I'm Trying to Write a Poem

I’m trying to write a poem about a stranger

A man I haven’t known all my life

I knew he was a father 

my mother and grandma showed me photos

then they started crying, so I thought, he’s very sad.

I’m trying to write about a man in funny clothes

The German prisoners on our farm wore strange caps

but when the father came, he was much more scary

than the silent men who gave me sticky sweets

My mother said he’d come to England on a ship

But Uncle Tommy’s ship sank, so he never came

Would a father be safe or sink under deep waves

like the ones under the pier when the tide is rushing in

I’m trying to write a poem about a father

In the photo, he’s on a ship with lots of men

They’re all wearing a similar uniform

so, I’m not sure which of them is him

I’m trying to write a poem about a father

But I don’t really want him to come

‘cause he seems to make my mother cry

She never even listens when I say

‘We can always choose a different one.’

Author: Sarah Das Gupta

On OMPJ 

Photo Credit: Yannick Pulver on Unsplash