Why I Didn't Answer You Last Night

I disappointed

my father

in many ways.

 

When I was

12 he caught

me smoking.

 

When I was

15 he saw

me drunk.

 

At the age

of 17 I brought

him home a

cardboard paper

stained with

failed grades.

 

I angered

my father

many times.

 

I asked

him why

he never

called.

 

I cried

when on my

19^th birthday

he sent me

an email.

 

But the day

I killed my

father was

when I stopped

answering his calls.

 

Dad, it wasn’t

because I

didn’t care,

but you see,

I had died

and been dead

for many years.

Reviews

[Zoe Jay]

This is excellent. Unusual structure, which adds to the hard hitting starkness of the poem. The language is very simple, which makes the odd evocative moment, like "stained with failed grades" and "I cried when he sent me an e-mail" stand out all the more. It's clever that you turn the poem around mid-way through, moving from considering how you let your father down, to how he let you down. This shows a lot of humility and also gives the poem more impact because it moves away from where we think it is going. This is a very concise and clearly expressed poem about difficult relationships, and about the death of trust. In it's directness, and disconnected re-collective style, it's not maudlin at all, and therefore very digestible / accessible for the reader.

[serpent]

simple yet powerful...this read like a collection of a broken heart, dieng and later on dead expectations blended with shattered pieces of memories and a lot of pain!...

[Cynthia]

WOW!!! That's really AMAZING! I love the ending really much, and the last few lines as well, it so sad! Heartfelt and touching write.

[*skittlez*]

love it

[MuSe Ampoule]

Incredible Cassandra. I love how this experiment paid off...each stanza one stabbing memory...loved it.

[Julie Beth]

this is amazing its so sad you did a great job :)

[Kes]

Whoa, ok...
Ouch. Breathtaking, for sure.
Stunner.

[.]

well the ending was certainly not expected but very poignant..I had a similar relationship with my father, so was smiling in the first half of the poem, however yours unlike mine had a happy ending..shows that your can't choose your family and are not always easy to love..well written..

[Linear]

That is just so sad, that a Father and Daughter, can fall so far apart, when all is needed is love, I hope my Daughters never feel this way, though there have been many strains put on our relationships over the years, we still remain close, your poem certainly makes one think, if bridges need to be built, best start building

[KAREN]

Heart fel painful write, but written with the heart it has to be good and this was!
I'm not very close with my father either!