Michael O’Keefe: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

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Put Up Your Dukes

 

The last time my father beat me

I was fifteen years old.

After instructing me to “mow the fucking lawn,”

to which I wittily replied, “No fucking way,”

he pinned me against the Chippendale wall

of the library in our new semi-colonial mansion

(Did I mention he was doing quite well since he quit drinking?)

and began working on me like

Sugar Ray Robinson worked on Jake La Motta

but with a distinct difference:

I didn’t fight back.

You don’t hit your father, I thought.

 

Earlier that year I’d acted the part of Peter Pan.

Capitalizing on my androgynous appearance,

and the deeper knowledge

that all the cute girls were into theater,

I landed my first leading role.

The night before we opened my brother made the mistake

of changing channels on the TV without asking my permission.

I beat him mercilessly.

His cries and screams only made me beat him more

because he simply wanted to see what else was on. 

The next night, as one of the Lost Boys, he couldn’t be heard.

I stood in the wings waiting to enter knowing

he would never trust me again.  He never has.

 

So, when Pop began the beating I didn’t fight back

and would never fight back again, at least not

with my hands and teeth, the way I used to.

 

That’s the way peace begins: one beating at a time.     

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As an actor, Michael O'Keefe has garnered both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. He's appeared in the films Eye In the Sky, Michael Clayton, Frozen River, The Pledge, Ironweed,  Instant Family, The Great Santini, and Caddyshack.  Television audiences will recognize him as CIA Agent John Redmond on Homeland and remember him as "Fred" on Roseanne.  Other TV appearances also include The West Wing, Blue Bloods, Sleepy Hollow, Law and Order, House M.D., The Closer, Brothers and Sisters, and City on a Hill. He's appeared on Broadway in Reckless, Side Man, The Fifth of July, and Mass Appeal, for which he received a Theater World Award.  As a writer, his lyrics were in the Grammy-winning song, “Longing in their Hearts,” which was composed and sung by Bonnie Raitt.  He's also written with Irish singer-songwriter Paul Brady and numerous other composers, including Suzzy Roche.  His writing has appeared  in magazines such as BOMB, Mindful, Lake Affect, and Chaparral. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Bennington College.  His collection of poems, Swimming from Under My Father, came out in 2009. He has been a Zen practitioner for almost thirty years, and is a Dharma Holder in the Zen Peacemaker Order.

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                                            George Bellows. Dempsey and Firpo, 1924. Oil on canvas. Whitney Museum of American Art.

Comments

[Jack Skelley]

Thank you, Michael, and Terence.
Brutal is right. I'm sorry for the pain but grateful for the hard-won knowledge /language.

[Grace Cavalieri]

This poem is the way to end all wars, which always begin in the kitchen. And also what a powerful story of repentance.

[Michael R. Williams]

Nice poem Michael, I think we young men have always had this fight. The only time I tried was on a deer hunting trip in the Nem Mexico mountains when I was a teen. With the flow of alcohol intake you think you have liquid courage, NOT!

[Terence Winch]

Jack: Thanks for your comment.

[Jenn]

Moving and candid.

[Dr. Earle Hitchner]

It's called "corporal punishment," but I never got a physical beating from anyone under the rank of "general," as in "this beating will be a general reminder of what not to do again." If you got enough of these "general" beatings, especially if delivered capriciously, you never fully recover. That's why the equally cruel schoolyard game of "made ya flinch" is usually followed by two strong punches to the upper arm. For more on how generational anger is handed down, reread James Joyce's cauterizing short story "Counterparts" in THE DUBLINERS. Or, to stick more strictly with verse, reread Robert Hayden's brilliant poem "The Whipping." Michael O'Keefe's own poem is vivid and intense, using art to limn familial war, and ends in an inchoate, fragile ceasefire hopefully leading to prolonged "peace." The mission of the wounded or scarred is to break the chain of flash-anger violence. Kudos, Michael, on giving us this unsparing, deeply moving poem.

[Dr. Earle Hitchner]

Alas, I should have removed "THE" from "THE DUBLINERS." James Joyce would want me to be more fastidious with his book titles.

[Terence Winch]

Earle---thanks for that astute response.

[Gerald Fleming]

Poems serve to bring back memories. Wish this one hadn't, but nonetheless glad I read it, glad that it exists in the world.

[Ms. Jiwon Choi]

I had to hold a chair over my head for more than several minutes as punishment for whatever crime a second grader inflicts on the world. It's that kids are at the mercy of grown-ups who have socio-emotional issues they swear they don't have.

[lally]

great poem, great comments, great choice of artwork...did I say great poem, michael...

[Christine]

Beautiful and brutal poem. I hope the brothers reconciled eventually.

[Karen Beckworth]

Always loved your role in "The Great Santini" even without knowing you're a poet!

[Peter Kearney]

When Jesus said to love your enemies, I have thought that just meant don't do to them what they do you you. Perhaps this poem movingly and beautifully rewords that same lesson.