Tips from my father
" come out here," he'd call from the yard.
"i want to show you mars." i'd stand.
just in front of him, follow his finger up into the sky
the house spinning away from us till
nothing mattered but my father's hand
and his hundred planets. and his voice a pause before he found it, then:
"there it is." and maybe i saw it. this is how he taught me - in case i was ever lose at a sea,
or in the desert- how to navigate my way back home.
with each new season a new sky to learn, a serious
business, like reading a map. "look here."
he'd say, "this is something you might need."
by carol ann davis
who is the speaker and what are the main literary elements the author uses?