Tonight's Poet Corner: My Captain

My Captain
by Belinda Roddie

You were the icing on my childhood cake,
the reminder that I could laugh at nothing
and still see the world as beautiful
despite its inherit insanity. You named

your daughter after a princess, and
while you were never typical royalty,
you wore comedy like a crown that
not many others could snatch from you,
the words you waved a vibrant scepter
blurring in a golden ribbon of punchlines.
You were incredible, and I absolutely

took you for granted, everywhere. It
was easy to say you were wearing thin
on me when in the end, I was merely
missing the luster of the gift you gave
on the screen and on the stage. Make
no mistake, you were one hairy and
rambunctious bastard, but you were
a bastard who taught me to seize
the day, and I would not trust anyone

else to deal with Captain Hook, poetry,
mental illness, clown noses, living green
goo, magic lamps, rainforests, giant
pink rhinos, and crossdressing for love
as well as you did. So grab your father's

hand as he pulls you up to heaven, and
revel in the fact that you didn't have to
take up welding after all - that your life
was welded already with sparks
bright enough to light an entire ocean -
and when you get the chance, don
your captain's hat, because no other
scruffy genius like you will ever get
my loyalty across the sea of stardom.