Paternals 2 (2004)

I forgave my father much when
I took up his dread work. That’s how
Paternals go: A dad’s best kick-
Ass is his son’s own foot. I came
To my peerage when at last I
Suited up to parent my first
Wife’s daughter, nine then sixteen. One
Day she smirked at me across the
Dining table and said, Dad, you
Don’t know nuthin’ bout rock n roll.
Me--rock’s phaeton photon, now in
Haggar slacks, tie, and shined black shoes,
The weight of real life in the yoke.
That day no son filled the mirror:
A stone’s face -- mine, his -- grew clearer.