Re: My Father's House / George J. Dance

Spam-I-Am wrote:
>

On Saturday, November 26, 2022 at 3:49:07 PM UTC-5, george...@yahoo.ca
wrote:

>

My Father's House
>
This is my father's house, although
The man died thirteen years ago.
They said it would be quite all right
To take a drive to see it now.
>
Dad laid those grey foundation blocks
And built the whole thing (from a box),
Toiling after each full day's work.
I helped, though I was only six.
>
Look, here's the back door I would use
And here's where I'd remove my shoes
To enter; there I'd leave my things
And, when allowed, climb up these stairs.
>
In this room I'd wash many a dish,
Gaze out this window, and I'd wish
To be so many other places.
(Wishy-washy? Oh, I guess!)
>
Outside, the garden that he grew
Where I would work the summers through,
While watching my friends run and play
Mysterious games I never knew.
>
That room's all changed; oh, where is it,
The one chair I was let to sit?
(For boys can be such filthy things.)
Which, the corner where boys were put?
>
Oh ... down that hall there is a room
Where I'd be shut (as in a tomb)
After the meal, to make no noise,
To read or play alone, and then
>
Lights out: in bed by nine each night,
Some nights wanting to pee with fright,
Face and pyjama bottoms down
As for my father's belt I'd wait.
>
Oh, if I were a millionaire
I'd buy my father's house, and there
I'd build a bonfire, oh so high
Its flames would light up all the air.
>
~~
George J. Dance
from Logos and other logoi, 2021

>
Okay, so the poem tells a story of remembered abuse.
The extent to which the story in the poem reflects the
true story of your life and memory is fundamentally
irrelevant to the reader except to the extent that your
life experience informs your ability to write emotionally
convincing stories that are of interest to other people.

>
I've said it before, several times, but it doesn't hurt to repeat it:
The story in the poem -- a man revisits his family home, years after his
father has died, walks around it remembering so-called "abuse", and
finally wishes he could burn it down -- is completely fictional. It
never happened. It was a work of the creative imagination. (Some of the
events the speaker remembers are from my own background, but that's a
different story.)
>

When you say “My” father’s house, “By” George J. Dance,
people are going to think you’re talking about yourself.

>
Corey was trying to be nice and constructive, so I didn't mention it to
him, but: arguably the most famous dramatic monologue (the type of poem
this is) is one by Robert Browning called "My Last Duchess." I've read
discussion of it both on and off aapc, but I have never encountered
anyone who thought that Browning was ever married to a Duchess.