Karyn Peyton
Dad
I told my 92-year-old landlady that
My heat was up too high and she kept me down there for an hour just talking to me
About life and death and aging and race and church
And human things lady across the alley with too many cats
Man upstairs who blares at his mother on national holidays like a forlorn
Foghorn Ooo he is noisy smoking on the landing she said
And he’s always coming in here with his face all beat up
Like he’s been with the wrong crowd if you know what I mean she giggled
She hugged me like a bear and I love you you bring me joy
I see you changing My baby My brother died recently she admitted
How she missed barbecues on the back porch six homes in this house
And nobody says hello or grills steaks anymore
Do generations regenerate does growing up grow you out of yourself
Does it take your passions and mature you and cure you
So you can write it for once by a black lamp
On a legal pad I miss you Dad
My heat was up too high and she kept me down there for an hour just talking to me
About life and death and aging and race and church
And human things lady across the alley with too many cats
Man upstairs who blares at his mother on national holidays like a forlorn
Foghorn Ooo he is noisy smoking on the landing she said
And he’s always coming in here with his face all beat up
Like he’s been with the wrong crowd if you know what I mean she giggled
She hugged me like a bear and I love you you bring me joy
I see you changing My baby My brother died recently she admitted
How she missed barbecues on the back porch six homes in this house
And nobody says hello or grills steaks anymore
Do generations regenerate does growing up grow you out of yourself
Does it take your passions and mature you and cure you
So you can write it for once by a black lamp
On a legal pad I miss you Dad
Biography
Karyn Peyton (she/her) is a screenwriter and new poet living in Los Angeles, where she's held support staff roles in writers' rooms at AMC and Showtime Networks. She's been published in two anthologies from Z Publishing. Her humor writing has been featured in many-a-zine. She's also written an indie documentary series about police misconduct, worked with the Department of State to implement sustainability education programs in Lithuania, and made a guerilla-style documentary that severed a university's relationship with a psychiatric hospital. She loves cats, coffee, and well-worn chairs at the library. You can find her on Instagram at @karynp1.
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