Father and Son(net)
by Marc Meierkort

He says I shoulda decked him. I shoulda

laid that kid out. O man now he tells me.

I mean I coulda been a contender.

I coulda developed a mean right hook.

Man I hate how this exercise forces

me to consider how much like Brando

I too am a no-show. Kids start calling

me Spanky to my face but Fat Albert

behind my back. So what I like to snack.

At fifteen I’m caught trying to shoplift

​

a Police CD. The memory stings.

The trio breaks up. As for my father—

I never heard him swear like that before.

To this day he swears that he never swore

Marc Meierkort is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia College Chicago, as well as Managing Editor for Allium, A Journal of Poetry & Prose. He earned an MFA in Poetry from Columbia in 2022. A Pushcart nominee, his work has appeared in After Hours, BlazeVOX Journal, and Querencia Press, among others.