Terence Winch’s That Ship Has Sailed (University of Pittsburgh Press) arrived last week, and reading it has given me many pleasurable hours. Here is “Father,” a favorite poem that in a few brief lines conjures an entire life:
Father
I have your cuff links and tie clips.
I have a box with your IDs in them.
Your steamfitters union card from
the middle of the war. I have the toolbox
you and I made together when I was a kid.
I have the bookcase you brought home
when the Monsignor bought new furniture
for the rectory and threw it out. It’s right
upstairs in my living room. I have your banjo,
which still sounds great. All I’m missing is you.
by Terence Winch from That Ship Has Sailed
You can read Anne Harding Woodworth’s fine review in the Innisfree Poetry Journal, along with new poems by Terence Winch here.
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Author: The Best American Poetry
