A veteran father strategizes how to communicate with his ill child in Randy Brown’s sweet and unsettling poem.
—
static
Turns out, the psychiatrist
is a former Navy Corpsman.
He says your 5-year-old problem is
that some signals can’t get through.
I learned brevity on Army radios,
pushing-to-talk in 5-second bursts,
waiting a beat to hear the response,
always thinking one phrase ahead.
Instead of speaking louder, I’m told
I should dial into your distance,
quietly fine-tuning our conversations
as if I am cracking a safe.
How was your day, over.
Did you make any new friends, over.
Daddy loves you, out.
***
Interested in submitting poetry to The Good Men Project? Check out our guidelines.
Like The Good Men Project on Facebook
Photo by U.S. Army Garrison Red Cloud – Case/Flickr