A DISCONSOLATE DISUNION

Yusef Komunyakaa’s “My Father’s Loveletters” consists of a literal representation of an abusive marriage sparking conflict and hurt to all involved. The fact is developed throughout the poem that a mother has abandoned her family due to her husband’s repeated abuses. Himself, a carpenter, and usually under the alcoholic influence, does all in his power to win her back through secretly using his more intelligent son to compose notes and letters to her as to redeem himself. As an alcoholic carpenter, how does the use of the pessimistic nature of the father’s tools, possessions and various objects surrounding him reflect his inner turmoil?
At the inception of the poem, positive imagery is swiftly contrasted to negative imagery. What is the overarching purpose of this stark contrast? From the get-go, his alcoholic nature is highlighted when he’d have a “can of Jax” on any given Friday (1). Do the father’s alcoholic tendencies carry a significant weight upon his actions? Further reading illustrates that he “close[s] his eyes” as he drinks (2). This proves that the alcohol shuts him out, removed himself from reality and introduced himself to the darkness he is so accustomed to. He then asks his son to write the “same letter” to his wife (3). The alcohol has deemed him lazy and possibly unintelligent to the point of incoherency, and the fact that this seems to be a repeated occurrence with the use of “same” further outlines the tragic dark circumstances. The contrast then begins in full force when it is mentioned that the mother “sent postcards of desert flowers taller than a man” (4-5). He would always “beg her return,” indicating she was needed far more than he was (5-6). It is now clear as day that the mother is out of the pictu...

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...of an abusive relationship and the tension it causes has been transformed into a poem by the repeating contrast of beauty versus dreariness, by highlighting a child’s inter opinion on the state of his parents’s relationship, and by metaphorically illustrating what an incompetent man believes of himself through the mind of his own as opposed to the reality of his lesser impressive tools and abilities. The dark, cold, harsh objects surrounding him, such as his tools, his home, and his alcohol, remain copious. These items serve the true purpose that his dark life will forever surround him, though he will never illuminate himself to this fact, while his son and ex-wife grow further and further estranged. Meanwhile, his own pride will continue to grow as the tools stick around him to provide false empowerment as to pertain to the only true skill set he will ever possess.