What is it like to commemorate
While most around you celebrate?
Ask the many orphans
And single-parent children –
Ask them what they say
On mornings of Mother’s
Or Father’s Day?
07.02.95
.
———————————————————————————————————————
Copyright by Minh Tan on listed dated of completion
and published in Perspectives, ISBN 0-9686250-0-2.
———————————————————————————————————————
.
Notes to this poem…
What is it like to be a part of a single Parent unit on the day when most of the rest of society around you celebrate the presence in their lives of the Parent you do not have in yours? That was my simple observation in penning this poem. I am extremely fortunate not to know this feeling, and even if one of my Parents pass away before the others and I would be faced with a similar situation, I would never feel that way due to the many years both have been in my life that I could still celebrate their influence in my life. However, I had this thought, somewhat interestingly not on either Mother’s Day or Father’s Day itself, but rather on a day in July. It is not a pleasant thought, and it makes me sad just to think about those poor children, as well as the single Parents in their lives. But you’ll have to ask one of those people for an answer because I don’t have one.
The O-series of poems are one stanza poems composed before I got onto writing haiku and tanka, and short poetry while in action or traveling by select means like plane or ferry. These poems are 3-9 lines long with at least one rhyming couplet, and not of the short forms just mentioned. For the sake of elegance, I just called the collection One.
Minh Tan's Old Poetry 
Leave a Reply