Whether fraught, flipped, unconventional, tender, or messy, the relationship between a father and child is the stuff of legend. We’ve chosen these seven stories and poems for their wise and sometimes humorous take on the beauty, challenges, and above all, enormity of a father’s role.
Andre Dubus
A Father’s Story
She told it in bursts, like she was a child again.
Andre Dubus III
My Father Was a Writer
It was the six of us: my young parents and all four of us kids.
Amanda Gunn
Kaleidoscope
My father sent his children a video clip, a thick kaleidoscope of monarchs.
Anthony Marra
Best Advice
I can’t recall when, exactly, my dad said this to me.
Gina Berriault
The Woman in the Rose-Colored Dress
My mother and I remained apart. My father came late.
Ross Gay
Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be
I have so many questions for you, for you are closer to me than anyone.
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Someone Else Besides You
She was the first of my father’s mistresses that I’d seen.
