Poem-A-Day: Like Him by Aaron Smith

October 31, 2013 Like Him by Aaron Smith     I'm almost forty and just understanding my father  doesn't like me. At thirteen I quit basketball, the next year refused to hunt, I knew he was disappointed, but never  thought he didn't have to like me  to love me. No girls. Never learned  to drive a stick. Chose the kitchen and mom  while he went to the woods with friends who had sons  like he wanted. He tried fishing--a rod and reel  under the tree one Christmas. Years I tried talking deeper, acting tougher  when we were together. Last summer  I went with him to buy a tractor.  In case he needs help, Mom said. He didn't look at me  as he and the sales guy tied the wheels to the trailer, perfect boy-scout knots. Why do I sometimes wish I could be a man  who cares about cars and football, who carries a pocketknife  and needs it? It was January when he screamed: I'm not  a student, don't talk down to me! I yelled: You're not     smart enough to be one! I learned to fight like his father, like him, like men: the meanest guy wins, don't ever apologize.      Copyright © 2013 by Aaron Smith. Used with permission of the author.   About This Poem "I thought I would be less interested in writing from the perspective of a son about his parents as I approached forty. I'm finding that's all I seem to think about. This older speaker seems more aware of (and more willing to talk about) the tricky spaces that exist between fathers and sons. It's also a poem about the expectations of men in culture and what failing to live up to those mean." --Aaron Smith Most Recent Book by Smith Appetite (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012)               Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day Archive.   Aaron Smith is the author of two books of poems, including Appetite (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012). He is assistant professor of creative writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.   Related Poems Inventing Father In Las Vegas by Lynn Emanuel A Story by Li-Young Lee My Father's Leaving by Ira Sadoff __________________________ Love reading Poem-A-Day? Help support it today.     Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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