My Father's Face
by Pete Lee
My father's face stares out at me from the mirror
They painted his back silver when he died
He was lowered into me while I slept
Figures stood around my bed speaking in soft tones
Their words like a steady rain in the bedroom where I lay
My father's face accuses the world through me
The mouth of the world is an empty stadium
The nose is a windy peninsula besieged by gulls
The tears are twin seas regulated by twin moons
There is no peace anywhere on the face of the earth
My great silverbacked father died a grizzly
I am a fish swimming feverishly toward death
I see the face of a bear through water like broken glass
It is the face of the principal of a school of one
I rise up into that face as if snatched and swallowed
No son of mine will ever spawn this face
The glass rivers will all lead to oceans of dust
The wind will flee as if something pecked at its eyes
The silence will rise up like a cheer
Peace will sprout like whiskers from the dead earth
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