“Children of the Lost Patriarchy“

Who do the fatherless ones celebrate

on Father’s Day?

Do you look them in their long-lost eyes

and congratulate them for

finding their own compass

with no true north?

Or do you assume we are just like you,

guided and loved with someone sturdy to lean on?

I stayed silent for many moons

on Fathers Day,

taking cover from the Truth Bomb

that I will never be

anyone’s princess.

There were no fishing trips or baseball games,

no pep talks or life advice,

or whatever it is that fathers do.

There will be no father-daughter dance

on my wedding day,

no hero to cheer me on as I

morph and mold into my womanhood

throughout life,

and no one to model

how a man should treat me.

When you realize you

come from a sperm donor

who departed deliberately

or through death-

whether he was too young,

too violent,

or otherwise defective,

the Children of the lost Patriarchy

grow a spine with branches

reaching for the heavens for guidance

found elsewhere;

with weathered bones before we knew

we were broken,

and trust issues for miles

to track the distance we’ve conquered

despite no ground below us,

we are camouflaged to culture with all our might,

and we are everywhere.

I may never know a father’s love

but instead I have found

The Sky,

The Sacred,

and the occasional surrogate parent

who walks across my windshield

at the crossroads of my life,

all who teach me more

in their brief passing

than a lifetime of resentment

ever could.

To all my fellow bastard babies

in hiding,

let’s bury our shame in the

open pasture.

There is no carbon copy

for what we’re missing out on

today (and every other day),

but Father energy is everywhere.

Elusive, He is not confined

to just one man

but instead He lives in

the fire of

our inner strength,

in our fledgling confidence

as we stand up after each of

life’s assaults.

He is the vertical rise

of the trees

and the shining sun

that shows up somehow

every day

when everything else

fails us.

This elemental Father

is all we’ve ever known,

and that is something

to celebrate.

So to all my sky-bound siblings,

Happy Fathers Day.