FATHER'S DAY POEM

	June 16, 2000
	Some words of poetry for fathers, on Father's Day. Here is NewsHour contributor Robert Pinsky, the poet laureate of the United States.

ROBERT PINSKY: From Polonius to Homer Simpson, fatherhood has sometimes been associated with comedy. Like all notions of dignity, fatherhood, in its dignity, invites the banana peel fall of satire. And let's face it, fellow dads, sometimes there is a sitcom absurdity, if not to the role, then to the way we fill that role. William Carlos Williams' poem "Danse Russe" captures the preposterous, even absurd side of being the man who is father in a household. Here is the poem: DANCE RUSSE If I when my wife is sleeping and the baby and Kathleen are sleeping and the sun is a flame-white disc in silken mists above shining trees,— if I in my north room dance naked, grotesquely before my mirror waving my shirt around my head and singing softly to myself: "I am lonely, lonely. I was born to be lonely, I am best so!" If I admire my arms, my face my shoulders, flanks, buttocks against the yellow drawn shades— Who shall say I am not the happy genius of my household? I wish you laughter and affection on Father's Day.