Fatherhood

Hello, everybody,I posted a poem on my Instagram on Sunday about fatherhood and, as is my regular habit, I immediately started rewriting. So here is the original poem as posted and a few variations on the theme. I go into more detail on the audio version of this post but I’ll say here that it’s a beneficial exercise to dramatically change the tone and meaning of a poem simply by changing, adding, and subtracting a few words or lines. It demonstrates the enormous power of editing and revision. Also note that one can change the meaning and tone of a poem by simply changing the title.FatherhoodI still sometimes step on stray Legos that escaped their toy box and went solo two decades ago.After the Divorce I still sometimes step on stray Legos that escaped their toy box and went solo two decades ago.After the DivorceShe still sometimes steps on stray Legos that escaped the toy box and went solo two decades ago.After the DivorceThe mother sometimes steps on stray Legos that escaped the toy box and went solo three years ago.The Prodigal Son Returns HomeI step on Lego bricks that escaped my toy box and went solo two decades ago.After His Father’s FuneralThe son steps on Lego bricks that escaped the toy box and went solo two decades ago.Child’s FuneralI step on Lego bricks that escaped my son’s toy chest and went solo three days ago.Child’s FuneralI step on Lego bricks that escaped my son’s toy chest and went solo three decades or three years or three days ago. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shermanalexie.substack.com/subscribe