I wrote this poem in response to Harry Chapin's "Cat's In The Cradle"
and other stories about fathers who don't have much time for their families.
It explains that many fathers are like that, not by choice, but because
their employers expect it of them in a time when jobs are difficult to find.
There are some here who seem to assume that anything written in the first person
must be autobiographical. That's not such a good idea with me. I am a storyteller.
I love to write short story songs and poems from a first person perspective.
Most of these stories have a message. But a few of them are just for fun.
In some of the stories I have posted here I've been:
A man who runs away from his life and his family, but then turns around and goes home. (Driving West)
A man who has an affair with a promiscuous woman who's name he finds on a bathroom wall. (Angel 69 / Mid-Life Crisis)
A boy neglected by a father who spends all of his time working. (My Dad)
An alcoholic who's wife has left him for another man. (Alone At The Party)
A man praying to a god he doesn't believe in, who killed his wife and her lover and is planning to kill himself. (My Magic Bullet)
King Arthur lamenting about Guinevere's relationship with Lancelot. (Another Cockroach)
A homosexual who suffers at the hands of religious fanatics. (The Dark Ages)
A cowboy who is killed in a gunfight. (Tombstone)
Of course, some of my short story songs and poems are written in the third person.
"Mr. Lonely" and "Elmer Wigby" are good examples.
And some, like "Dixie Flyer", "Blue Moon Sort Of Night", and "Summer Nights",
are partially autobiographical.
Sometimes I write stories about things I am tempted to do, so I can study them
and learn a lesson, without actually having done them.
"Driving West" and "Angel 69 / Mid-Life Crisis" are examples.
Some of the things I write are autobiographical. Others are pure fiction. Many are a mixture of the two.
Throughout this website, I've deliberately made it unclear which parts are autobiographical and which
are fiction. But, by using this mixture of autobiography and fiction, I believe I've told the story of my life.
All these stories I have written. The story of my life that I have told here.
The reason they're a mixture of autobiography and fiction is they are not just about me.
They are about all of the people like me. Thousands of people who are lonely like I am.
The mass of men who lead lives of quiet desperation. I am just one example.
It was never about making the details of my own life public.
The point was to write things that others could identify with.
A friend of mine wrote this song for her father:
No Man's Land
I was raised by a fireman so I know all about accelerants
and how to keep things contained.
He went crazy in Viet Nam. He raised me on war stories.
And watching him, I learned how to kill a man.
Oh Daddy dear, you didn't ever sleep.
And it took me years to see you were always nightmarin', oh.
Even in your dreams with the shake, shake, shake of your hands.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You have lived through many things that would kill me,
and you're the one who taught me how to stay alive.
And you have to know I have listened because I have lived this long, oh.
Sometimes you've gotta die a little so you can survive.
Sometimes you have to kill the things that eat you alive.
Oh Daddy dear, you didn't ever sleep.
And it took me years to see you were always nightmarin', oh.
Even in your dreams with the shake, shake, shake of your hands.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
And I have always been real strong and can carry such heavy things,
and I think that I must get that from you.
But watchin' you fumble with a shovel that's diggin' your grave,
I'm afraid that strength might be a curse when it starts to fade.
What if strength becomes my burden Dad, one of these days?
And oh Daddy dear, you didn't ever sleep.
And it took me years to see you were always nightmarin', oh.
Even in your dreams with the shake, shake, shake of your hands.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land!
I was raised by a fireman so I know all about accelerants
and how to keep things contained.
Cass Brostad (From the Madisons album "No Man's Land", 2017)
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and other stories about fathers who don't have much time for their families.
It explains that many fathers are like that, not by choice, but because
their employers expect it of them in a time when jobs are difficult to find.
There are some here who seem to assume that anything written in the first person
must be autobiographical. That's not such a good idea with me. I am a storyteller.
I love to write short story songs and poems from a first person perspective.
Most of these stories have a message. But a few of them are just for fun.
In some of the stories I have posted here I've been:
A man who runs away from his life and his family, but then turns around and goes home. (Driving West)
A man who has an affair with a promiscuous woman who's name he finds on a bathroom wall. (Angel 69 / Mid-Life Crisis)
A boy neglected by a father who spends all of his time working. (My Dad)
An alcoholic who's wife has left him for another man. (Alone At The Party)
A man praying to a god he doesn't believe in, who killed his wife and her lover and is planning to kill himself. (My Magic Bullet)
King Arthur lamenting about Guinevere's relationship with Lancelot. (Another Cockroach)
A homosexual who suffers at the hands of religious fanatics. (The Dark Ages)
A cowboy who is killed in a gunfight. (Tombstone)
Of course, some of my short story songs and poems are written in the third person.
"Mr. Lonely" and "Elmer Wigby" are good examples.
And some, like "Dixie Flyer", "Blue Moon Sort Of Night", and "Summer Nights",
are partially autobiographical.
Sometimes I write stories about things I am tempted to do, so I can study them
and learn a lesson, without actually having done them.
"Driving West" and "Angel 69 / Mid-Life Crisis" are examples.
Some of the things I write are autobiographical. Others are pure fiction. Many are a mixture of the two.
Throughout this website, I've deliberately made it unclear which parts are autobiographical and which
are fiction. But, by using this mixture of autobiography and fiction, I believe I've told the story of my life.
All these stories I have written. The story of my life that I have told here.
The reason they're a mixture of autobiography and fiction is they are not just about me.
They are about all of the people like me. Thousands of people who are lonely like I am.
The mass of men who lead lives of quiet desperation. I am just one example.
It was never about making the details of my own life public.
The point was to write things that others could identify with.
A friend of mine wrote this song for her father:
No Man's Land
I was raised by a fireman so I know all about accelerants
and how to keep things contained.
He went crazy in Viet Nam. He raised me on war stories.
And watching him, I learned how to kill a man.
Oh Daddy dear, you didn't ever sleep.
And it took me years to see you were always nightmarin', oh.
Even in your dreams with the shake, shake, shake of your hands.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You have lived through many things that would kill me,
and you're the one who taught me how to stay alive.
And you have to know I have listened because I have lived this long, oh.
Sometimes you've gotta die a little so you can survive.
Sometimes you have to kill the things that eat you alive.
Oh Daddy dear, you didn't ever sleep.
And it took me years to see you were always nightmarin', oh.
Even in your dreams with the shake, shake, shake of your hands.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
And I have always been real strong and can carry such heavy things,
and I think that I must get that from you.
But watchin' you fumble with a shovel that's diggin' your grave,
I'm afraid that strength might be a curse when it starts to fade.
What if strength becomes my burden Dad, one of these days?
And oh Daddy dear, you didn't ever sleep.
And it took me years to see you were always nightmarin', oh.
Even in your dreams with the shake, shake, shake of your hands.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land.
You were always dancin' through a no man's land!
I was raised by a fireman so I know all about accelerants
and how to keep things contained.
Cass Brostad (From the Madisons album "No Man's Land", 2017)