Grace Paley's "Fathers"

Grace Paley's Fathers caught my eye in a way that I found refreshing at first and sometimes somber at others. I like the fact that this is about the "other" parent. I feel as though women often get more poetic justice than men do in any sense, so to see this subject matter is in itself capturing. Secondly, I find instances here of acceptance (though perhaps this is not the correct word) "see fatherings of many colors with their round babies on their laps", and excitedness of a new-found family dynamic and wholeness "these scenes were brand-new/ exciting for an old woman who/ had watched the old fathers/ gathering once again in/familiar Army camps../". As I said, this poem is refreshing as it offers a different take on the distaste for war and the positive effect that the lack of war can have on the family rather than the negative effect that war has on the family. 

I also see different kinds of rhyme within Fathers. At times there are instances of assonance (third stanza) and at others there are instances of end rhyme (lines 18-19). In doing this it seems that Paley keeps her readers interested in that one is not quite aware of what sound the next stanza will have, and in doing so the tone changes slightly within the progress of the piece. There is figurative imagery used in the last stanza of the older generation of fathering men meeting to plan the eradication of more 'motherly' fathers of the new generation. This is quite interesting and speaks not only to the loss of a sense of masculinity some may have felt was lost in the newer generation of fathers, but also the disconnect and impression that those war-like fathers have left on their children who now parent such a contrasting way.