Lost in Translation

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LOST IN TRANSLATION


            "It may be simply that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear." - Winnie the Pooh


No second-hand embarrassment 

can top the dinner when my dad 

said 'what?' not once but twice

to Dr. Chintalapudi. Inevitably I

was stupefied—what desperation

could drive a man to this extent

when simply nodding with a smile 

and a ‘yeah" is always on the table,

and yes, that's if the conversation

doesn't call your bluff, but that occasion's


rare, even for amateurs. Since then 

I’ve morphed into my dad or someone

like him (though this won't qualify

as news to You,) and with the tide

of retrospect compassion came an

             understanding of my wife’s confusion

as to what possesses a man to spend 

an afternoon out on the stoop, alone,

conversing with the air and asking

what my father did, but more than twice.


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