Father

Hello dad,
How ya been?
Good...
How's the weather?
Good...
What have you been up to?
"Not much", he says.
"Good", I say.

What? Your dad says more that one word...
Good...

That's really all I say as well.

But you pick up the phone,
call a stranger with the same last name.
Imagine calling your janitor from the 7th grade.
That's how well I know my father.

Saying "dad"
Leaves a weird taste in my mouth...
almost like gum when you chewed it so long it doesn't stick together.
The word is foreign in my mouth.
It just doesn't roll of the tongue.
Dad
Daddy
Papa
Father

That's the one that's seems right.

Biologicaly he's a father,
But not much of a dad.

Father is what others call him...
How's you father?
Have you called your father?
Did your father send any money?
Father?

Farther and farther away
...maybe that's why father
sounds the best.

I have to pause and think,
"Hi dad" I can usually force
to fall off my tongue
like the lies that I'm alright
Bits and pieces breaking off a mess of sound.
Like a word you've never said before.
It's hard to pronounce.

Dad
...weird
Daddy...
While it might have been my first word
it seems almost a different language now.