by Chad Parenteau
 |
| Cartoon by Steve Brodner for Mother Jones, March 6, 2009. |
Angry Dad is dead.
The rush is on
to see who now has
the loudest voice.
Auditions begin
at dinner table.
Women fill glasses
from bottom to brim.
Contents spill over
on flag tablecloths.
New father figure
finds this affront,
sets air above table
aflame, scatters dishes,
sends all to bed
without supper.
There they'll fester,
rewrite old declamation
overheard piecemeal
from fighting parents.
Chad Parenteau hosts Boston's long-running Stone Soup Poetry series. His work has appeared in journals such as Résonancee, Molecule, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, Off The Coast, Ibbetson Street ,and Wilderness House Literary Review. He is a contributor to Headline Poetry & Press and serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine. His second collection, The Collapsed Bookshelf, was released in 2020.