Comparing The Sick Equation by Brian patten and Long Distance by Tony Harrison

“ She thinks of her mother, who is dead. Dead, but still her mother. Joined. This is confusing. Of her father a gray old man who sold wild mink, rabbit, fox skins to Sears, Roebuck (Walker pg.2). Roselily once again starts to think back to the days when she was a child, to the days when she had no worries. She feels her mother who is dead still stands beside her in spirt to guide her on this unknown journey she is about to embark on, and for a moment it gives her comfort. “Or forever hold,” the Preachers’ words ring in Roselily’s ear. “ She does not even know if she loves him. She loves his sobriety. His refusal to sing just because he know the tune. She loves his pride. His blackness and his gray car. She loves his understanding go her condition. She thinks she loves the effort he will make to redo her into what he truly wants (Walker pg.3). Here the author really dives in to what Roselily thinks of her new husband. She knows she doesn't love him and probably never will. However, there are aspects about him which she thinks she can love and she realizes that will have to do

She sometimes thought John would no longer recognize her; it had been so long that "he would be a child beside her if she saw him now" (3). She doubts herself; she doesn't think John would recognize her but reassures herself that his love and understanding would require no explanations of her. This pride she derives from John and her children makes her "jiltings" seem more like a blessing: "It made her feel like rolling up her sleeves and putting the whole place to rights again" (3). There were still so many things she could do for her children; she didn't want to be taken yet: "that would have to wait. That was for tomorrow" (3). She was telling death, "tomorrow" not today.

promises his utmost respect and loyalty in an attempt to make her want to leave with him. He

The next couple of lines portray the idea that it is only through the mother that the father and son are united. In life, her presence and assurances that they are alike linked them, and once she is gone, there is little to bring them together except their shared grief, which as they are so emotionally divided they find impossible to communicate.

and eventually Boy cheated on her. As the neglect grew, so did his guilt. When

and saves the family from pure starvation. He is her only solace in her world.

finally found her that’s where it truly showed that under all that sorrow in his

father to hell, even though he was the one man she followed around like a lost puppy dog waiting

This implies that she’s lost all hope of communication and understanding between her and John in their marriage. She no longer holds the hope that she will get better with the help and support of her husband. This only throws the woman farther and deeper into depression in the prison of her mind. Because she lacked the feelings of fulfillment, love and support, she fell into a deep and dark depression that affected her both physically and emotionally.

        The words stabbed at John’s heart and flooded him with a mixture of regret and guilt.  His muddled mind served up flashes of his disagreement with Mary, of his refusal of his mom’s request and of the related emotional suffering he and his siblings had

He promises her a call back but he never does and she knew this was going to happen. She still had hope though. The hope that he would call, the hope that her “fairytale” wouldn’t last just the couple hours that it did.

She grieves for her husband a very short time. She then begins to feel a sense of freedom. This initially makes her feel guilty and

calls him a coward and tells him that his love is worth nothing to her

In both “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “forgiving my father” by Lucille Clifton, the speakers have deep discontent with their fathers. They both describe issues they had with their father when they were a child, which resulted in lack of respect. In contrast, both poems show a different healing outcome of the child, that is now an adult, and their lasting opinions of their father. Both poems represent a way a child can deal with a childhood issue with a parent and what it is like to either overcome it or still have it festering inside.

It doesn´t last long enough for him. His love for her will continue and he doesn´t want her to go.