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.