A poem from Tony Hoagland on his birthday [ed. Terence Winch]

 

My Father’s Vocabulary

 

In the history of American speech,

he was born between “Dirty Commies” and “Nice tits.”

 

He worked for Uncle Sam,

and married a dizzy gal from Pittsburgh with a mouth on her.

 

I was conceived in the decade

between “Far out” and “Whatever”;

 

at the precise moment when “going all the way”

turned into “getting it on.”

 

Sometimes, I swear, I can feel the idioms flying around inside my head

like moths left over from the Age of Aquarius.

 

Or I hear myself speak and it feels like I am wearing

a no-longer-groovy cologne from the seventies.

 

In those days I was always trying to get a rap session going,

and he was always telling me how to clean out the garage.

 

Our last visit took place in the twilight zone of a clinic,

between “feeling no pain” and “catching a buzz.”

 

For that occasion I had carefully prepared

a suitcase full of small talk

 

—But he was already packed and going backwards,

with the nice tits and the dirty commies,

 

to the small town of his vocabulary,

somewhere outside of Pittsburgh.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For more on Tony Hoagland (19 Nov 1953--23 Oct 2018):

Wikipedia

Poetry Foundation

 

 

Comments

[lally]

this poem is a knockout

[Jennifer]

What a brilliant poem! Love it.

[Emily Fragos]

Tony Hoagland accepted for publication one of my first poems and he was so kind and gentle and supportive of me.

I absolutely love this poem! It captures so much. It is pitch perfect.

[Michael]

Tony, the one and only.

[Eileen]

I love this poem. The line “a suitcase full of small talk” is so definitive.

[Terence Winch]

Thanks, Ei. Glad you liked it. Tony Hoagland was a fantastic poet.

[David Lehman]

I agree with Lally. The poem's a knockout!

[JoAnn Marie Anglin]

Thank you for printing this. He probably wrote something I wouldn't like, but I haven't seen it yet. A shame he's gone, but what a treasure trove he left!

[Terence Winch]

Thanks for the comment. I agree with you completely.