I have my Father’s Voice
Chris van Wyk
1. When I walk into a room
2. where my father has just been
3. I fill the same spaces he did
4. from the elbows on the table
5. to the head thrown back
6. and when we laugh we aim the guffaw (loud burst of laughter)
7. at the same space in the air.
8. Before anybody has told me this I know
9. because I see myself through
10. my father’s eyes.
- “I” - personal pronouns
- Reflects on way childhood moulded him
- Acknowledges similarities between father & self
- Same mannerism: way they sit with elbows on table, throw their heads back when
laugh, even tone of laugh
- “Guffaw” - loud, raucous
- Reflection engages the sense of sound, sight & touched - visceral response to
memories
11. When i was a pigeon-toed boy
12. my father used his voice
13. to send me to bed
14. to run and buy newspaper
15. to scribble my way through matric.
- Speaker remembers childhood
- Repetition of infinitive form of verbs to create list of order or instructions issued by
father
- “Pigeon-toed boy” & “matric” scribbling through work (light-hearted, meant to create
humour)
- Speaker remembers being ordered to bed, do homework & go to shop. Memories
self-deprecating as speaker portrayed himself as awkward child with mediocre
remarks
- Accounts for normal families filled with chores
- Tone = light-hearted
Chris van Wyk
1. When I walk into a room
2. where my father has just been
3. I fill the same spaces he did
4. from the elbows on the table
5. to the head thrown back
6. and when we laugh we aim the guffaw (loud burst of laughter)
7. at the same space in the air.
8. Before anybody has told me this I know
9. because I see myself through
10. my father’s eyes.
- “I” - personal pronouns
- Reflects on way childhood moulded him
- Acknowledges similarities between father & self
- Same mannerism: way they sit with elbows on table, throw their heads back when
laugh, even tone of laugh
- “Guffaw” - loud, raucous
- Reflection engages the sense of sound, sight & touched - visceral response to
memories
11. When i was a pigeon-toed boy
12. my father used his voice
13. to send me to bed
14. to run and buy newspaper
15. to scribble my way through matric.
- Speaker remembers childhood
- Repetition of infinitive form of verbs to create list of order or instructions issued by
father
- “Pigeon-toed boy” & “matric” scribbling through work (light-hearted, meant to create
humour)
- Speaker remembers being ordered to bed, do homework & go to shop. Memories
self-deprecating as speaker portrayed himself as awkward child with mediocre
remarks
- Accounts for normal families filled with chores
- Tone = light-hearted
