[Glenn Wright]

Hi, David—

I like the way you framed this affectionate tribute to your father in the form of a pub-worthy, humorous anecdote. The image of the normally abstemious man wrangling a bicycle like a spirited horse and tipsily staggering home from the Welsh border after celebrating the end of the war in Europe is amusing, but you carefully preserve his dignity by mentioning his usual self-control and his own embarrassment, leading him to deny having told you about the episode.

I thought you might replace the hyphens in lines 6, 8, 12, and 15 with em dashes. I was also puzzled by the phrase “conscripted to the land.” I assumed it meant that he was drafted into the military to work in the UK raising crops to support the war effort. Was he a conscientious objector who could not bear arms for religious or moral reasons, or was that simply the work he was assigned?

I enjoyed the poem.

Glenn