The poem “forgiving my father” by Lucille Clifton grabs the attention of the reader in a very affective way. The message of the poem is about one daughter who resents her dad because he does not have money to support the family and he is always asking for more time to give them the money. What the daughter wants to express in the poem is that she gave her dad lot of time to give them money, but time has gone, and she is not going to waste more time waiting for the money from her dad. What the poem wants to emphasize from this poem is based on three important items. First, the author uses a simile to convey how hurtful and frustrating her situation was. Secondly, the author uses a metaphor that compares the father in this poem to an empty pocket, which alludes to a miserable relationship. Lastly, the poem as a whole was thought provoking. It can make the reader think about their life compared to the daughter in the poem after analyzing these three items, the reader can now better understand the meaning of the poem.

     In the beginning sentences the author uses this simile, “All week you have stood in my dreams like a ghost” (Clifton, 525), to capture the attention of the reader. Once the reader interprets the simile, they can figure out that the father is not fulfilling his roles as a father. Instead, he is making his daughter worry about her family rather than other aspects of her life. A ghost represents and by ghost she means someone who is in her nightmares and she cannot rest. The ‘ghost’ is identified as a symbol of fear and can also be related to a person who is comes and goes every day, similar to her father. These moments have been so painful for her that she gets nightmares and is unable to rest. She sees her father as someone who fails at his most important job, which is to take care of his family. This simile of the ghost and the father explains what the father means to the daughter. 

     The author depicts the broken relationship between the daughter and the father by comparing the father’s inability to support his daughter financially to an empty pocket. She refers to her father as “a pocket that was going to open” (Clifton, 526), because she expected financial aid from him, even though he never provides for her. The metaphor continues in the text as she constantly uses words like “payday”, “bills”, “accounting”, and “pocket” to describe the role her father plays. When she thinks about her father, all she imagines is money instead of a father figure. In addition to treating her dad as merely a source of finances, it is clear how the daughter feels about her dad based on the words she uses to describe him. She uses words like “old man’, “old liar”, “pauper”, “prisoner” in order to show how hostile she is towards him for leaving her disappointed and hopeless. She concludes her metaphor of her father being compared to an empty pocket by writing “coming [home] empty every Friday” (Clifton, 526). 

After reading the poem, I realized how lucky we are to be alive but we tend to forget the most important things in life such as, family.  We never really treasure what we have until we lose it. For example take these two types of families, the first family includes parents who live in the suburbs with high paying jobs and a maid at home taking care of the house. They are financially stable to take care of three kids who attend prep schools and go on vacation trips every holiday. In contrast, the second family constitutes of parents who in their youths found themselves hanging out with the wrong group of people they participated in the use of drugs and alcohol. These types of parents are now struggling to earn minimum wage jobs. Their three kids have to pay for the parent’s misfortune. When I think about these to families, as well as the poem, its makes me think about my own family. I now really appreciate the life I live with two caring parents who are willing to sacrifice anything for the happiness of their child. Their love gives me the opportunity to focus on my studies, my health, my sport and all of my other goals. Furthermore, I think about the girl in the poem and the hatred she has towards her lazy father. She feels helpless being born into poverty with a dad who squanders his money on irrelevant things resulting in her having to fend for herself. After reading her story and comparing it to my own experience, I truly believe that parents need to think more about what having a child means.

     The author sends out an important message both to children and adults. To adults who are not yet financially stable or don’t have the time for kids, do not have children because in the long run they are the ones who suffer for your mishaps. To parents stuck in impoverished homes, teach your child to not grow up too fast.  A child with caring poor parents can be happier than an affluent one neglected by one’s parents. Also to privileged children, appreciate what you have because you never know when the opportunity might pass you by. Lastly to less fortunate kids, never give up on your dreams because there is going to be a brief moment in time when you feel everything falls into place. I think everyone needs to read this poem to learn to appreciate the little things in life because in a world that is so fast paced and rapidly getting more advanced, it is very easy to ignore the most important things. It was the metaphor and the simile in this poem that makes the reader realize about the hardships the girl in the poem was having compared to their own experience.
