Good Fathers Poem by Jamaal John

I'm tired of us
always having to prove our love to our
sons one of the biggest compliments I'd
get a lot of times is how great up
father, I see pictures on the internet
people compliment you a lot because they
see photos and honestly, sometimes I want
to tell people don't tell me I'm a good
father when you don't know anything`
about me fun-loving daddy and son
pictures on the Facebook page not equate
to instilling values into your child to
develop and the fact that I'm black
should be irrelevant when it comes to my
ability to raise my son my skin tone
should not make me any better or worse
when it comes to the paternal instinct
but because fathers like me are
apparently extinct I get extra praise
for what I'm supposed to
do from strangers who don't
know when my son was born I only got him
from 12 noon on Saturdays to 5 p.m. on
Sundays went to the court to get more
the time came back with 12 noon on Saturdays
to 5 p.m. on Sundays plus child support
fought for a year had him for a year and
half if not more I had him 50% of the
time if not more only to lose him when
he started school to summertime and
rotating the holidays so when you see me
in the streets with my little one and
when I say it's so good seeing the
father doing his job spitting that
quality time don't because I am being
robbed the greatest gift forced
to live through pictures on the iPhone
to recognize the touch of my lips more
then they do my fingertips and the smell
of his lotion every day I rub into my
skin so when I smell myself I think of
he forced to live through memories that
occur within the span of one week
through occasional webcam chats with the
a child too young to speak back so when he