Father Reading The Morning Paper Poem by Ben Partenay

haphazard photographs flash smiles in black
and white, show old men smoking life away

I read news printed in dark ink
pasted across nothing paper, filled space

of all the world’s emptiness, tied up with
strings, placed on doorsteps, framed for

a later year’s wall, no gray, that’s all
I’ve ever cared about, either all in

or nothing at all, smoke and smoke
and die, or don’t and live awhile longer

don’t just smoke two, don’t just print
a lie and dress it up with color, go

with all the grace of a jackhammer
pound the world home with a pen

yes sir
no sir
i will never be a you
sir