My Father's Chain Of Command/ He Took No Prisoners Poem by Ted Sheridan
My Father's Chain Of Command/ He Took No Prisoners
As a young boy of seven
My father who was an ex Marine
Took me aside and told me the facts of life
He thought I should know for my own protection
He was right
Girls dream of boys and going steady
Boys don't have a clue on what to do about girls
So they whack off to air brushed beauties
Hiding their feelings on a t-shirt
Which soon becomes stained with dried guilt
When mother discovers
The secret shroud still damp with the fact
Her son has been unfaithful too...
At the tender age of fourteen
My father who was then an ex Husband
Of my guilt dishing less than loving mother
Took me aside to tell me
Another of his many profundities
He thought it important for purposes of development
That I know what it meant to be a follower of men
Or reverse that situation and become a leader
He was right once again
For the man who follows the leader is a fool
And the man who is a leader is followed by fools
It is better to solitarily take each step alone
The fall from grace is just as far but occurs at only half the speed
2007 © T Sheridan
I love this Ted the use of double-entendre is great and shiows an inteligent use for this (Britished favoured) form of humour. I havn't had much time to get through your work but I will say that you are well adept at form. This has a very American feel to it whilst the content (though US English) is very British. A sort of cross between Bukowski and Betjamin.
Excellent...I've found that going it alone, for the most part, works best for me...If I make my own decisions, they can't come back and haunt anyone but myself. I imagine it was a strict household and 5 stepsons as well as my own son, I never did encounter, 'the normal rite of passage of a young man'....but then, there were just some things I didn't search for.... I love the subjects, the diversity of your writing............marci.xo.
absolutely a lesson of life with a message..pertainng to youth today...excellent ted.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/19/2024 8:39:49 AM # 1.0.0.1119
I find this one of the best pieces you have written. And that's saying something. I'm quite gobsmacked actually, by the, sort of blatant grains of truth and insight here. t x