This poem helps when I'm struggling as a single mom. It reminds me that i can do this, i am doing both jobs and i will keep raising my kids regardless of the fact that he backs out.
Sent this to my mother and watched it 8 times. Nothing could ever put into words my mother better than this poem. every school event, competition, game and award I could always find her in the crowd. She may have been in work clothes coming right from work, tired and overworked, but always there. Most beautiful eyes in the crowd that I can always point out a mile away
I watch my father walk away from me at 9 years old. The image is something I can't forget. no matter how hard I try. I had only felt alone even when with friends. I wish I could forget that moment.
I had NEVER hear this particular poem before and I had NO clue on what it entailed. As I listen to this young brotha go through, I'm thinking this is pretty deep. For you see my Father had NEVER been there but then when he said...Papa was a rolling stone. It hit me, he was talking about...That Father that stayed up ALL night long, that rocked me to sleep, the one that wiped my nose. He's talking about, the one that laid me in her bed and said, Mama is here, no need to fear. She sang me to sleep, stepped in when darkness tried to creep. I got it now your talking about Big Bad Mama. You see my Father was never around and that was just so profound...I looked for him, called but the number was disconnected. When I finally found him, there was this dead silence. You see, he didn't know me, nor did he respect me. I was his nigga, some call that an affectionate term. My Mama never called me that, she referred to me as Son. I want to say this young man is on point. It's pretty sad that some Fathers, not ALL don't know how to be a Father and for that WE the siblings NEED to forgive them and I'll tell you why. Our Parents don't know or didn't know how to be a parent. They learned this trait from watching their parent, who didn't know either. Parenting is no joke, trust me, I know, I have a daughter and I was not always there, didn't give like I was suppose to, didn't say the things that I should have said BUT, I made a conscious decision to be there and do what I was suppose to do. I didn't want to be like my Father, a rolling stone. I have a GREAT relationship with my baby girl. I have told her that Daddy was not there, made some mistakes BUT I made up for the screw up, we talk, laugh and cry together. I have to tell you, it's a beautiful thing when your son or daughter talk highly of you. When they look in your eyes and say, I LOVE YOU. Parenting is trail and error, we learn from what we see, hear and what we think we know and that's ok. If you a have a chance to talk to your Father, tell him that its on and you forgive him. Today were going to start a new. Hopefully he will come around and do what he knows to do.
This man speaks so beautiful, so true it makes me hurt. I don’t know life without mother, but realize loss without father. Yearning to have a normal, I’d give anything to know what it is like to have a normal family.
As a man who had a dad and mom who loved him very much, this is one of the most heartbreaking and beautiful pieces of spoken word I've encountered. Thank you for being to honest, so frank, and to vulnerable. It means the world.
My father left when I was 3 and I haven't seen him since. My mother did a fantastic job being both and while she made mistakes, I couldn't imagine being raised differently, or imagine the person I would be today if he had stayed.
Great work. Its new and original. The message needs to be spread and the delivery is well done. In all; a fantastic, amazing, (original meaning of) awesome, poem.
how can I contact the poet? I had to write my own poem on another poem of our choice. I chose this one. I got a great response and my professor said I should submit it to the the poet. I don't know got to reach him
I wonder if that mother was an Alienator... yes I wonder if this man has a syndrome that is directly from being of victim of not a DEAD BEAT DAD, but Parental Alienation... used as a get back, used for a paycheck (court ordered,) or worse used to just break another man to the point of suicide.
Last night I had the most interesting dream In it I was 6 years old at a national spelling bee Genius complex words like serendipity Duodenum Floccinaucinihilipilification all spelling them right up to the Last round one word that’s giving me a victory The spell master clears his throat young man Your word is father, the crowd began to chatter Among themselves all Upset at the simplicity Of this final word, I look at the masters eyes His eyes saying everything’s going to be okay If you do it and I realized I dazed off, young Man your word is father I stood up straight Licked my lips, and began, Father, M-O-T-H-E-R Father spell master looks at me, looks at his flash Card he says I’m sorry, but you’re incorrect. Wait wait; see I don’t think he understands, See my father is sitting right in the audience. “Excuse me?” I’m sorry son, you’re incorrect Well you sir can save your sorry apologies because You must mean incorrect as in within the parameters Of being right let me explain something to you obviously you Aint grown up where pops were rollin stones down the hills Of women’s backsides and when he comes, all he left us was alone Where menstrual men stroll around on bikes and fathers balanced Their Menstrual 2 jobs 2 kids and life on a unicycle and it looked something like This, breastfeeding with one arm, phone on the shoulder, cooking with the Other arm and cleaning with one leg and tying sneakers with their teeth Young fathers who make mistakes because they are not all perfect but the One mistake they’d never make is abandoning their seed you see fathers Are master gardeners they tend to every leaf removing the weeds placing Us in the windows of opportunity so we can lean towards the sun so we can never Forget that the sky is the limit planting kisses on our cheeks, hugs on our backs Growing their love on us the best way they know how, like my father, my father Lived a deadly nightmare so I can live my dreams, my father awarded me in blood sweat and tears, in hopes that’d I’d be ripe for the harvest, and I hope that I’ll be as great as a father As she was for me you did not ask me to spell dead beat sir but if you’d like dead beat Here it is F-A-T-H-E-R D-A-D D-A-D-D-Y P-O-P P-O-P-S if you’d like the slang, you asked me To spell father and where I am from in my life father is and has been and always will be spelled M-O-T-H-E-R so open your encyclopedias show me your flashcards, open your dictionaries Cause what Webster says, means nothing around here, around here my father is sitting right there, and I love her
by the time as i was 1 my dad left he tried to come back when i was 8 then right when i turned 9 he gave up on me and left. he walked out again he refused to text or call me. i’m now going to 7th grade and i have a step dad but i don’t want him to adopt me because sure my dad left but he still made a mark on my life it may not have been a good one but it’s a mark
In the end the judge would be like I'm sorry bruh u still spelled it wrong I meant spell father in the literal sense not ur deep internal meaning I mean that was touching and all and like if u were in a competition about meaning of words u would win buuuuut this is a spelling bee so u gonna have to take second place
He is explaing, the absentee of his father in his life. While describing what a father should be, he is given the word father to spell, but spells MOTHER instead, bc she played more then one word in his life... not only was she his mother, but she also was his father, bc that was the only parent he had. Listen again, I believe you will get a better understanding what he's trying to say. This is a very deep poem, & I can relate exactly what he's saying.
Thank you so much for simplifying it for me, it had made me confused. Now I understand why he uses mother instead of father and I actually relate to. :)
Your dad may have been a deadbeat, but realize the implications when you say that you won't spell father F-A-T-H-E-R because you weren't asked to spell deadbeat. This is a strong implication that the two are one and the same. Upworthy is happy to perpetuate such ignorance.
Boo! A mother can only be a mother as a father can only be a father. One doesn't replace another, if one is out of the picture then they are just that "out of the picture". It does not all of a sudden make a mother both father and mother nor a single father both father and mother.
