49 Comments
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Steve Lovelace's avatar

So much truth in so few words. I look like my mother's side of the family, but replace look like with act like I'm right there.

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Eleanor Anstruther's avatar

Ah, beautiful.

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Toni's avatar

As always, you have an amazing and beautiful talent with words. My curse is when I get a glance of myself in a mirror, I am startled by the image of my father. And I hate having pictures taken of me as it is always my father I see. Awesome poem!! Thank you. And, I apologize for being so late with my reading and comments; just as I was returning from that dark space in my head, I had surgery on my hands - makes it difficult to write or type. But, the colors and lights are returning for me.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Oh, no! I hope your recovery from surgery is going well.

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Corli's WRITE's avatar

My fifth child who came five years after the fourth, in my forties, looks a lot like my dad. It shocks me when I see him, especially with a fresh haircut like today. When I look into his eyes, the flash of recognition is instant, remembering looking into my father’s eyes just like that and thinking how they look just like mine, the last day I saw him alive.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Yes, my father's ghost does reside in me, as well.

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Michael Frank Rhoderick's avatar

My experience is the opposite. I see my father in my periphery as I walk by a mirror or glass door or window. I see him in certain facial expressions and I hear him when hiccup!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

The hiccup! Just like my father did, I often hiccup with my first drink of something cold.

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Glenn Ingersoll's avatar

A few years ago I went to family reunion and met a bunch of people I barely knew existed. My father died years before, but at the reunion I met his last surviving brother, who was quite old. I'm glad I got to meet him, though we didn't have much to say to each other. I have a clear resemblance to my mother; I never thought I looked like my father. So it was a surprise when I stopped by Uncle's table again after having been here & there about the room, and he looked up at me suddenly and said, "Bruce!" -- my father's name.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Oh, wow, that had to be intense!

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Glenn Ingersoll's avatar

It was ... Having my dad's last living brother see my dad when he looked at me, yes, that was unexpected.

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John Tessitore's avatar

Sometimes I open my mouth and my father’s voice and words come out. It’s the strangest thing. But I welcome it. It’s better than mourning.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Yes! "Hello, Dad," I say in my Dad's voice.

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KathT's avatar

Isn’t that weird? I have the same experience, although I look like my brother :-)

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

My two sisters, twins, and I are only 372 days apart. We very much look alike althought I'm more than a foot taller.

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Jeff Hartzer's avatar

Lotta nature

Little nurture

Made me strong

OK being alone

All I need to be

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

!!!!

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DeeDee D's avatar

Perfect. True. Thank you.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, DeeDee.

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Mike Colletti's avatar

Wow! Just wow! I have been compared with my own father’s images in photos and in real life by his siblings and friends. I only wish he was still here with us. So you have captured my feelings brilliantly in a few beautiful words! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Mike?

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Dee Rambeau's avatar

Oh man can I relate. I’ve looked at recent photos and had a double take.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Yup!!!

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Tom Vandel's avatar

So nice. So true. Whenever I’m in a bar and hit the can and see myself in the mirror I wonder what the hell is my dad doing here!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Hahahahha

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Jeff Hartzer's avatar

And, in your heart of hearts, who is it you’d like to mirror? Physically, mentally, even spiritually, always felt my only brother took on the worst of our Mother and Father, and I, the better.

Have played with my ‘mother father parts’ trying to let go and reach acceptance, though first thought not always my best (take that Ginsburg)...here’s a thought:

My hands my mothers

My spirit my fathers

Running down sidewalks

far into natures’ blessings

my need to survive

Happy Fathers Day

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I'd want the best of my parents...and the crazy, too. It's all formed me, by nature and nurture.

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Barbara's avatar

Hoping that's a happy thing...

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Yes!

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RonMcF's avatar

Thanks, Sherman--I shared this one with my sibs. It reminds me of the pride I felt when I was a boy & folks would say how much I looked like my father. Nowadays I get that good feeling when one of my daughter's students at Kendrick HS tell her how much she "sounds like" her father (or more often how her father sounds like her). We often connect at track meets.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Yes!!!

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