i met my dad on a breezy saturday in my twenty first year

gathered around a table, my father and i 

many years after he had passed away

i relived the day i learned of him in vivid detail the way 

the chills raised to the surface of my skin 

my brain turned off all outside noise 

i couldn’t tell you what happened outside of my body-

the wind, the sun, the water, which bathtub toys

i only know of the sound of running water drifting into nothingness, a ringing of

words that didn’t make sense-

don’t repeat this

today the sun is warm, i feel the breeze

today i met my father and let me tell you, he’s

gathered around a table 

photographs, stories, examples of what kind of father he might have been

features, mannerisms, laughing, tears 

so much to make up after twenty one years

my uncles, aunt, grandmother, cousin

i can .. i can breathe

i get to see him in the way they laugh, cry, reminisce 

and they see him in me

this table is big enough for all of us, but there is always an empty seat

so we’ll fill it with memories, laughs, tears, photographs and similarities 

i’ll love them like i know you could have loved me

leaving the earth cannot take him away

meeting my family has brought me back and set me free

i met my father on saturday

i met my father on saturday/the empty seat
4/22/22, 2:11am