Different Dad

Different Dad was written for fun and it isn't really about my dad, or even me.

Busker in Galway - pencil drawing and photo combined

By day he looks like your dad
He acts like your dad
He even thinks like your dad
But my dad
My dad is different
He’s not one of us

Come the darkness
And the moonlight
He changes
Its in his blood

And it gets worse
He’s not like the regular
Once a month
Full-moon
Werewolf type dad
Changing for just one crazy night

Or the beer drinking
Once a week
Friday night with the lads
Hung-over Saturday morning
Type dad

My dad is different
He’s not one of us

It was once a week
A couple of hours
Cold winter nights
After dark
No harm in that
That’s what they think

As Spring Sprang
It was in his step
And as Summer scorched
Dad sizzled with feverish rhythms
As Autumn fell
It was too deep

It happens everywhere
Any excuse
A stuck-wheeled trolley
Spins and twirls down the aisles
The snow falls
The car pirouettes

Beautifully

He walks with the beat
Sashays and shimmies
Side-steps and slide-steps
Counting time
Not left right left right
But five, six, seven, eight

He mambas into Morrisons
Waltzes out of Waitrose
Sambas in  Sainsburys
Flamencos all over Farmfoods
Gyrates outside the garage
He even Tangos in Tesco

He’s not like the regular
Once a month
Full-moon
Werewolf type dad
Changing for just one crazy night

My dad is different
My dad thinks he can dance