My Father Died When I Was Five,

I'm Seventy-one Now, So It's Hard To Imagine A Dramatic Change.

I Say, Father, The Years Have Brought Me Here, Still Your Son, They Have Brought Me To A Life I Cannot Understand.

For Sure I Once Thought Of Myself As The Poet Who Would Save The Ordinary From Oblivion.

But I'm Too Old To Be Written About As A Young Poet.

I Have A Sense That Many Americans, Especially Those Like Me With European Or Foreign Parents, Feel They Have To Invent Their Families Just As They Have To Invent Themselves.