A Dream of my father at Grand Central Station
We were at Grand Central Station
I could hear the pound of the women's Delman heels
on the polished floors
My father wore a Brooks Brothers sports coat
with only underwear
pink socks,
stick legs
and varicose veins.
He was tired
he sat on some chest
near the information booth
He said,
" Kid, I failed you"
and downed a shot
from his flask of Vodka.
Then he was gone.
I looked in the chest
there were New York Yankee tickets
from 1933
stationary from J. Walter Thompson
an ad he wrote for the Jack Parr show
stacks of newspapers
the ones he always carried
New York Post, Daily News, and the Times
a purple heart from World War 2
pictures of him smiling widely
with Yogi Berra, and Jack Dempsey
a Toots Shore restaurant painting
with Joe DiMaggio's signature
Oh, where have you gone
Joe,
a nation turns
its lonely eyes to you...
But I was lost,
and he was gone..
We were at Grand Central Station
I could hear the pound of the women's Delman heels
on the polished floors
My father wore a Brooks Brothers sports coat
with only underwear
pink socks,
stick legs
and varicose veins.
He was tired
he sat on some chest
near the information booth
He said,
" Kid, I failed you"
and downed a shot
from his flask of Vodka.
Then he was gone.
I looked in the chest
there were New York Yankee tickets
from 1933
stationary from J. Walter Thompson
an ad he wrote for the Jack Parr show
stacks of newspapers
the ones he always carried
New York Post, Daily News, and the Times
a purple heart from World War 2
pictures of him smiling widely
with Yogi Berra, and Jack Dempsey
a Toots Shore restaurant painting
with Joe DiMaggio's signature
Oh, where have you gone
Joe,
a nation turns
its lonely eyes to you...
But I was lost,
and he was gone..
Doug Holder is the founder of the Ibbetson Street Press. He is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. He is on the board of the New England Poetry Club.
Board of Directors of the New England Poetry Club
Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene http://dougholder.blogspot.com
Ibbetson Street Press http://www.ibbetsonpress.com
Poet to Poet/Writer to Writer http://www.poettopoetwritertowriter.blogspot.com
Doug Holder CV http://www.dougholderresume.blogspot.com
Doug Holder's Columns in The Somerville Times
Doug Holder's collection at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/@dougholder
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