.

“Ha ha,” is all she gives her Dad
when he makes fun of what she said.
No more parental Galahad
who nightly carried her to bed.
He’s just a jaded humorist
who doesn’t even merit laughs
from her which once were numerous.
For now she deems such jibes are gaffes
in Daddy’s rearing. No expense,
with audible contractions of
the diaphragm, does she dispense
as she was wont to, as his dove.
Hence she who used to go gaga
instead grants him a barbed, “ha ha.”

.

.

Born and bred in New Jersey, Frank De Canio worked in New York City for many years. He attends a Café Philo every other week in Lower Manhattan.   

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7 Responses

    • Paul Freeman

      But seriously:

      ‘Embarrassment, our dad jokes cause,
      so Funny Father’s put on pause.’

      I know the feeling, Frank!

      Reply
      • Frank De Canio

        LOL! I love your couplet, Paul. “…so funny father’s put on pause” I should have used it in my poem! ‘put on pause’ it elicits the dynamic exactly. This girl, sitting opposite her father at Barnes and Noble had a slew of age appropriate books at her side and apparently had no time to indulge the childish antics of her Dad.

  2. C.B. Anderson

    Speaking frankly, thanks Frank. This isn’t quite how things went for me, but I am still paying reparations to my daughter who has provided me with two lovely granddaughters. I get along with them just fine. This is the controlling riddle: Why do grandparents get along so well with their grandchildren? Answer: Because they have a common enemy.

    Reply
    • Frank De Canio

      Very apt, Mr. Anderson. I also think that’s why Father and daughter get along well. Maybe it works too with Mother and son. We can call it, class warfare!

      Reply
  3. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    The pitfalls and pain of parenthood portrayed with poetic aplomb! Bravo, Frank! I love it!

    Reply
    • Frank De Canio

      Thanks Susan for your kind comments. I must say I was amused at this little girl’s perfunctory response to her pretty imposing Dad and even pointed it out to him: “Did you hear what she just said?” I’m sure they patched things up, afterwards! LOL! I was aware of the displaced accent in the final words of the couplet, but I hope what I lost metrically I made up with by the aptness of the dissonance, if I said that correctly.

      Reply

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