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Column 521

Father and Daughter

Intro by Ted Kooser
03.15.2015

Aman­da Strand is a poet liv­ing in Mary­land. I like this poem for its sim­plic­i­ty, clar­i­ty and direct­ness. No frills to dec­o­rate it, just the kind of straight­for­ward account­ing of an expe­ri­ence that Hen­ry David Thore­au said he looked for in an author.

Father and Daughter

The wedding ring I took off myself,
his wife wasn’t up to it.
I brought the nurse into the room
in case he jumped or anything.
“Can we turn his head?
He looks so uncomfortable.”
She looked straight at me,
patiently waiting for it to sink in.

The snow fell.
His truck in the barn,
his boots by the door,
flagpoles empty.
It took a long time for the taxi to come.
“Where to?” he said.
“My father just died,” I said.
As if it were a destination.

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We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2014 by Amanda Strand and reprinted by permission of the poet. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.