Missing Father
By Donna Pucciani
This morning being too wintry
for a walk, I think of my father,
trudging to the bus stop at dawn in all
weathers, to juggle numbers on paper
across the George Washington Bridge.
My twin sister and I
would toddle to the front door,
our pajamas hanging on us
like wilted petunias, snorting
back our tears, wailing,
Where’s Daddy?
Mom would explain patiently
in her Fifties housewife voice
that he was going out to make nickels.
We longed for his deep voice rising
from the worn pages of Beatrix Potter.
In the long Jersey evenings,
sitting by his side on the sofa,
immersed in the familiar tales,
we would chant with him the names
of the four bunnies: Flopsy, Mopsy,
Cottontail and Peter.
He was strong and steady
in those days, before Parkinson’s
felled him in a slow death.
All I wanted, searching for
nursing homes close and affordable,
was a day when the only problem
was a carrot missing from
Mister McGregor’s garden.
Donna Pucciani’s poetry has been been published in diverse journals such as International Poetry Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, The Pedestal, Poetry Salzburg, Shichao Poetry, Istanbul Literary Review and Christianity and Literature. Her poetry has been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Italian, and has won awards from the Illinois Arts Council and The National Federation of State Poetry Societies, among others. She has been nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize and currently serves as Vice-President of the Poets’ Club of Chicago. She has authored several poetry collections such as Edges (2016), Ghost Garden (2016) A Light Dusting of Breath (2015), Hanging Like Hope on the Equinox (2013),To Sip Darjeeling at Dawn (2011) among others.