{"id":8344,"date":"2015-06-19T16:11:15","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T16:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=8344"},"modified":"2015-06-19T16:19:44","modified_gmt":"2015-06-19T16:19:44","slug":"fathers-day-poems-by-bonnie-j-toomey-and-susan-mahan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2015\/06\/fathers-day-poems-by-bonnie-j-toomey-and-susan-mahan\/","title":{"rendered":"Father’s Day: poems by Bonnie J. Toomey and Susan Mahan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Game Face Too<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn’t realize
\nhow long he’d been
\nwearing it
\nuntil it was too late.
\nMom didn’t believe the oncologist.
\nShe said Dad must have been poisoned.<\/p>\n

Until he outgrew it,
\nI didn’t realize how long
\nhe’d been wearing it –
\nfor all of us.<\/p>\n

Dad left his game face behind.
\nSometimes, I try it on for size.
\nSometimes,
\nits the only thing that
\nfits.<\/p>\n

Bonnie J. Toomey \u00a9 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blogger, essayist, and columnist, Bonnie Toomey<\/strong> ruminates myriad issues facing families today. When she\u2019s not delving into her graduate studies and teaching writing at Plymouth State University, she\u2019s whispering poems into her grandson\u2019s ears. Her limns are in The Penwood Review<\/em> and The Bay State Echo<\/em>. Her essays, op-eds, and feature articles have appeared in Parenting New Hampshire<\/em> and Baystateparent Magazine<\/em>, and are published weekly in the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise<\/em>. Here\u2019s a link to her website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Night and Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

My father wore pressed white shirts and bow ties.
\nHe buffed his leather shoes to a high shine.
\nHe was serious, thoughtful and polite,
\ndrawing on his pipe to consider his words.
\nDad wouldn\u2019t say horseshit
\nif he was standing in a pile of it.<\/p>\n

My grandfather had the deepest dimples and a twinkle in his eye.
\nHe chewed tobacco and kept a spit jar in his pocket.
\nSometimes Papa Matt wore his pajamas
\nthe whole time we were there.
\nNana was always mad at him and giving him a look.
\nPapa Matt had a raspy Irish brogue,
\nand he cackled at his own stories.
\nHis speech was peppered with occasional curses
\nand words like hoodwink and malarky.<\/p>\n

Dad bought my sisters and me valentines every year,
\nsigning Love, Dad in his meticulous left-handed cursive.
\nHe told us stories about World War II on our daytime walks
\nand Aesop\u2019s fables at bedtime.
\nHe taught me that life was tough sometimes,
\nbut that you could get through it if you did the right thing.
\nMy little sister said his stories were boring,
\nand she didn\u2019t understand
\nwhat \u201cslow and steady wins the race\u201d meant.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I forgot what Dad was talking about
\nif he paused too long in thought,
\nbut I had decided that my father and I were tortoises.
\nMy sister was a hare.<\/p>\n

Papa Matt thought it was important to pay attention
\nand to keep the upper hand.
\nHis standing advice was to
\nanswer the door with a hat and coat on.
\nIf it was someone you liked,
\nyou could say you had just gotten home;
\nif not, you could say you were on your way out.<\/p>\n

Papa Matt taught me to be skeptical.<\/p>\n

Dad taught me to believe.<\/p>\n

Susan Mahan \u00a9 November 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Susan Mahan<\/strong> has been writing poetry since her husband died in 1997. She is a frequent reader at poetry venues, including the Boston Public Library and the Catbird Caf\u00e9 in Weymouth. She has self-published four chap books, including, \u201cMissing Mum\u201d 2005, and \u201cWorld View\u201d 2009. She joined the editorial staff of The South Boston Literary Gazette<\/em> in 2002. She has been published in a number of anthologies, including Kiss Me Goodnight<\/em>, Solace in So Many Words<\/strong><\/em>, Living Lessons<\/em>, Crave It: Writers and Artists Do Food<\/em>, Cradle Songs: An Anthology About Motherhood<\/em>, and more recently in The Widows\u2019 Handbook<\/em> and Shifts: An Anthology of Women\u2019s Growth Through Change<\/em>, She has also been included in poetry exhibits in Boston City Hall for the last 3 years.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Bonnie and Susan for letting me share their poems — happy Father’s Day!<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Game Face Too I didn’t realize how long he’d been wearing it until it was too late. Mom didn’t believe the oncologist. She said Dad must have been poisoned. Until he outgrew it, I didn’t realize how long he’d been wearing it – for all of us. Dad left his game face behind. Sometimes, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,60,2511,2512,2607,12,2390,2606,2608,13,20,7,16,184,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-8344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-guest-posts","7":"tag-anthology","8":"tag-appreciation","9":"tag-bonnie-j-toomey","10":"tag-bonnie-toomey","11":"tag-cancer","12":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","13":"tag-father","14":"tag-grandfather","15":"tag-missing-father","16":"tag-poetry","17":"tag-publication","18":"tag-solace","19":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","20":"tag-susan-mahan","21":"tag-weighed-words","22":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8344"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8358,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8344\/revisions\/8358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}