This was a poem that was recited at the end of the movie Smoke Signals, a movie about two Native American friends who go on a journey to find and forgive absent fathers. Their smoke signals are cries for help. The movie was just fair but the ending was wonderful, with this poem being recited over beautiful cinematography. (I put the poets name in lower case in keeping with how I like my poets…)<\/p>\n
forgiving our fathers
\nby dick lourie<\/p>\n
how do we forgive our fathers?
\nmaybe in a dream
\ndo we forgive our fathers for leaving us too often or forever
\nwhen we were little?<\/p>\n
maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage
\nor making us nervous
\nbecause there never seemed to be any rage there at all.<\/p>\n
do we forgive our fathers for marrying or not marrying our mothers?
\nfor divorcing or not divorcing our mothers?<\/p>\n
and shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness?
\nshall we forgive them for pushing or leaning
\nfor shutting doors
\nfor speaking through walls
\nor never speaking
\nor never being silent?<\/p>\n
do we forgive our fathers in our age or in theirs
\nor their deaths
\nsaying it to them or not saying it?<\/p>\n
if we forgive our fathers what is left?<\/p>\n
* This poem was originally published in a longer version titled “Forgiving Our Fathers” in a book of poems titled Ghost Radio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was a poem that was recited at the end of the movie Smoke Signals, a movie about two Native American friends who go on a journey to find and forgive absent fathers. Their smoke signals are cries for help. … Continue reading