Father Chicago Poems

It was 1968 we'd gathered again in the school auditorium my tiny hands sweating only five years old while my name was called in all...

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9/22/1983

I drove your shining,Cadillac, Daddy!
The lead car to the cemetery.
A stuffed bear, your Borsalino,
In the August, back window,fino!

You, in the hearse, a few feet behind..
Tears...

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Looking back, one thing comes clean-glass clear
you were always there for me subduing every fear.

I tried to do my duty, be a husband strong and...

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I look up into the sky
 and I see the stars
 heavens smiles
 and my father is the creator
 of all
All the twinkling lights...

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Another bloody weekend in Chicago
   104 shot, 14 fatally
You know all about George Floyd
   But those 118 tragedies? -- null &...

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_____Daddy Saved These______

It has been many moons since my 
Father passed.
Then came that day, I unearthed 
these lovely treasures Daddy had 
saved.

My very first pair...

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She was an itsy-bitsy girl and had a teeny kitten.
One night Daddy came in, knowing his daughter was
smitten.
He was most angry with the kitten!
The father...

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Emuedgevoke
when my evening comes
let me come to you
with a song
on my tongue
for I have nothing else
but a song
on my tongue
how sad and yet how sweet
a...

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“Oh maid!

I need a kleenex please!”

And another bottle of brandy for my dreams to drink.

My mind is sinking.

Sinking quickly into the pit of my inner...

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A Chicago Cubs-Fan Prayer Answered! 

In nomine patri et fili spiritu of Ron Santo!
Let us all give thanks for Ernie Banks! 

Let us play........, two!...

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Father Bob
By Curtis Johnson

In Chicago, by the early 70’s, many great churches had taken flight
Off to the suburbia they went, seeking refuse from crime and...

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A Chicago Cubs-Fan Prayer!
 In nomine patri et fili spiritu of Ron Santo
 Let us all give thanks for Ernie Banks
    ...

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Good
at hiding 
it
won't know to look at
handicap
disability
embarrassment, worse than bad breath

must have smacked my head against something
when I was playing good cop, bad cop
and I...

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High Noon in Downtown Chicago
	
		St. Peter's in the Loop

Two minutes more, Father Cal,
and you will hear another 
of my strange confessions.
Right now, I'm outside
watching the...

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She wrote a letter 
Which I happily read
In Spring
Summer baked on
Autumn arrived with a chill in the air
Winter followed with snow 
Then the call came
Aunt...

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