My Father's Birthday Before I Was Born

Abstract

My Father's Birthday Before I Was Born Robert Bedick (bio) It was so simpleBefore I was born.My parents were farmers:White farmhouse, white curtains,White chickens on the range."Have you ever seen a chicken wearing sunglasses?"My mother would reminisce. Before I was bornMy mother was beautiful,A young girl in a country dress,She baked pies and grew pumpkins,Huge orange pumpkinsThat I would never see. My father was slim and strong,Before I was born.The pictures show him smilingWith a dog by his side,An old baseball capTilted sideways on his headWith a loose lock of black hairFalling down into his eyes. Before I was bornThere was an old wooden stairwayThat led to a bedroom,A sunny room of window glass [End Page 158] With a small double bed,A four-poster bed with a soft mattress,Feather pillows and a quilt. It was my father's birthdayBefore I was born, April fourteenth, 1946.My parents woke early,Warm in their bed,Surprised to see snowIn the middle of April,And a white horse standing silentBy the side of the house. [End Page 159] Robert Bedick Robert Bedick is the author of the novels Tomas and The Zimmerman File as well as An Argument in Favor of Television and Other Stories. Copyright © 2019 University of Nebraska Press