Response to "My Father's Waltz"

My Father's Waltz was a very sad poem. Under many layers, the author admitted that his father was a drunk and abused him. Whether it was about a specific time or his whole childhood, he makes the reader feel the pain of his father's belt buckle and "hand caked with dirt."

What is most interesting about the poem is how the author says it so casually. He explains the hand as keeping time and the belt buckle from slipping. It is as if he was abused on a regular basis and began to think of it as normal life.

That is a scary thought; being abused could be his normal life. Each day waking up, eating, and being abused as his mother nonchalantly looks on. Talking about the mother, I wonder what exactly she is doing and thinking while her husband drunkenly hits their son. Is she helpless, or could she have made the husband stop? Maybe she is scared for her own safety, but would sacrifice that of her son's.

This poem shows a life that I could never imagine having, yet the author lived it and was brave enough to share it with us. I admire his bravery in this situation, in his life!