Listen to this poem
Pantoum for My Father by AutumnKonopka
You are entirely unaware of me,
but I am all yours.
My father’s daughter.
There are no pictures to prove it,
but I am all yours:
dark hair, olive skin, round features.
There are no pictures to prove it,
just this face that resembles no one.
Dark hair, olive skin, round features.
From you, I inherited
this face that resembles no one,
bears nothing of my mother.
From you, I inherited
mystery, curiosity, delusions of grandeur.
I bear nothing of my mother,
attribute everything of consequence—
mystery, curiosity, delusions of grandeur—
to you, who has never had the chance to hurt me.
I attribute everything of consequence,
everything I see and cannot,
to you, who has never had the chance to hurt me.
My father’s daughter.
Everything I see and cannot.
You are entirely unaware of me.
