Father's Words Poem by Tim Larsen

It was a blow unlike any other that
left me winded, screaming for breath
panting for losing that part of us.

When that clenched fist
knuckles white, filled with bitter retreat
suffocated every part of me.

It was as if, when he let it go
he was reaching so far as to touch my heart,
and prick a hole somewhere inside.

Just enough to make me bleed,
make me feel and grow up and be a man
and deserve what I take and like it, and learn it.