I called you on your birthday

You were in the garden.

I phone to say how sad it was

we couldn't all be there

you said it's fine isn't it surprising

what life throws at us sometimes

you said you were about to make

chicken burgers you were about to

toast the buns and I never know what anyone

is ever really saying

or even if it matters if his birthday cards

are on his mantelpiece

or unopened on the door mat.

Maybe he's not really out there.

It's too hard to see faces on my computer screen

voices are so much easier but I guess

I always preferred radio to television.

It's 9.20 am and I'm eating raspberries

or maybe this is just the information

I'm choosing to tell you

and I guess we always like to think

of dads in gardens.