"Lessons Unfinished"

[We just had father’s day, so Barbie Angell’s tribute to her late father is seasonal, especially for those of us whose fathers are no longer with us—it’s a lovely tribute & a sweet remembrance]
 
Lessons Unfinished
(a poem for my father)
written for Frank Dockstader.
october 8th, 1949 – november 5th, 2001


I’m hitching a ride on a piece of a dream
with the strength of the tail of a kite.
I’m wondering why I fall asleep to my screams
and who gave the Big Apple a bite.

I crawl from one question to the next in the line
a convoy of unanswered thoughts.
Who teaches the teachers? Why do socks run away?
Why does everything end with a loss?

And my old man’s job was unfinished
when he went off to party with Pearl.
Does he know that I just wasn’t ready?
I guess I am still daddy’s girl.

I put the questions aside in the corner,
like garbage that needs to go out,
and I hope that someone will read this
and know what I’m talking about.

So I’ll try to move on and I’ll write a new song
that will take me away from myself.
But I still sometimes think
we should’ve had one last drink.
I’d have toasted him….
“Here’s to your health.”


Barbie Angell
© 2009-the present