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Full-Time Dads;
The Magazine for Caregiver Fathers
Issue 19, originally appeared in print - January 1996
By Bruce Linton, Ph. D.
Published by Fathers' Forum Publishing
Sometimes I read something, or hear a song, or see a picture, and think, "That looks so easy, I could do that." It is rarely true, but that, to me, is in large part the measure of an artist's gift‹making it look easy, making it look as if the work simply fell onto the page naturally. Bruce Linton's poetry is like that. This is a wonderfully touching collection of poems. In only 22 poems, Linton manages to cover the whole range of a father's emotions. He includes his entire family; there are poems about his wife, his daughter, his son, and himself.
These are spare, carefully crafted poems. Linton manages to express huge emotional landscapes with few words, and make them personal. It is truly a gift when a writer can tell about a personal experience that the reader has no other knowledge of, and yet captivate and engage the reader, and somehow include the reader in the experience. These poems will make you laugh, they will send a shiver down your spine. They are truly inspired and inspiring collections of words. Some of the poems have appeared in Full-Time Dads.
To order a copy, send $5.95 to: Father's Forum Publishing, 1521 A Shattuck Ave., Suite 201, Berkeley, CA 94709. You can e-mail Bruce at: mblarts@slip.net, and visit his Internet home-page: http://www.fatherforum.com.
By Anthony Browne
Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York
This is the odd little story of an average white, middle class family, Mr. Piggott, his two sons, Simon and Patrick, and his wife, Mrs. Piggott. Every morning, Mr. Piggott and his sons demand breakfast, and then go off to their "very important work" and "very important school," respectively. Meanwhile, poor Mrs. Piggott cleans the house and goes to her own job. In the evening, the boys and their father demand dinner, leaving the dishes and the rest of the housework to poor Mrs. Piggott while the men lounge on the sofa. One day they come downstairs to find Mrs. Piggott gone. All they find is a note, reading "You are pigs." Mr. Piggott and his sons are forced to make their own meals, which is " horrible," and, as you might have guessed, they never do any cleaning up. As we turn the pages, they turn into pigs, literally, and the bric-a-brac around the house takes on a definite porcine flavor. Eventually, Mrs. Piggott comes back, dressed in a smart suit, and the men beg her to stay. Mr. Piggott and the boys wind up doing all the housework, which makes mom smile, while she fixes the car.
I don't know what exactly it is about this book that disturbs me. Perhaps it is the implication that men are naturally helpless slobs around the house (although it is obvious that Mr. Piggott is a successful businessman), and that only by a woman forcing them can they learn to take care of themselves. Perhaps it is the refusal to communicate that drives Mrs. Piggott to walk out, leaving nothing but an insulting note. Perhaps it is the cowering of the males, donning aprons and hot mitts just to please the female, and the fact that only upon her return are they able to wash dishes properly. Maybe I'm too sensitive to this sort of gender-role moral tale, but Piggybook seems rather counter to any sort of constructive lesson we might want to teach our children about these matters.
Copyright 1994 Full-Time Dads
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