FATHER’S DAY

I shave my face
with Abraham’s knife,

just the way you taught me,
scraping the soft skin

with the edge of the blade.
Each year I am better

at not cutting myself,
but I am far from perfect,

the instrument much too sharp,
the flesh so swollen with blood. 

Matthew J. Andrews is a private investigator and writer whose poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Orange Blossom Review, Funicular Magazine, and EcoTheo Review, among others. His debut chapbook, I Close My Eyes and I Almost Remember, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. He can be contacted at matthewjandrews.com.