my dad and i  

never had much in common  

and when   

my mum gave me an n64  

he didn’t care.  

my mum was a childminder  

and when the dad  

of a child   

she was minding  

came to collect his kid  

I said  

“please please please can Sam play the game?”  

I unplugged it  from the black and white TV   

I was supposed to play it on  and plugged it into  

the colour TV in the lounge.  

Sam played   

The first level  

Of Mario 64  

For five minutes  

I got to pretend  

The man playing   

Was my dad  

A normal dad  

Curious  

About  

Something. 

Scott Manley Hadley is a poet whose books include Bad Boy Poet (Open Pen, 2018) and the pleasure of regret (Broken Sleep Books, October 2020). Scott blogs at http://TriumphoftheNow.com. Follow them on Twitter @Scott_Hadley.