State of Grace

Conect, I applaude your courage in writing so deeply and honestly without a trace of cynism. Must admit though the poem kicked up some aweful feelings for me. I hated my dad. He referred to me as "dogsbody". And on his deathbed he blamed me for his heart attack, worrying about me being a poet instead of a businessman. But that's my stuff. Reconciliation would have been redemptive but I somehow doubt it could have ever happened. I am glad there are good Dads. Fortunately my Mum gave me many of the things you talk about.

The title....I thought "My Father's Grace". language is really good, simple and straightforward, yet full of emotion. I like the rhythm except for this line... "nor grieve for the grass when snow consumes it in winter," which is very choppy and awkward, to me. As for the theme, its not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed this a lot. It's difficult to write this kind of stuff without coming off as self-righteous and holier-than-thou, but you pull it off well. One of the things I liked about this is that the feelings and actions are interchangeable between father and God, if you see what I mean. I don't know if that's intentional or not, but who cares? Its good! You keep coming back explicitly to God and his Grace, but between the start and the ending, the love and actions that a father should have and do shine through very clearly, to me. Then you come back to equate those things with God again, with the implication that the two are one and the same, and I found that really good. Respectfully, Jim "Laws and rules don't kill freedom: narrow-minded intolerance does" : Race