Rachel Kessler is cofounder of the poetry performance collaborations Typing Explosion and Vis-à-Vis Society. Her work has been published in the anthology The Open Daybook, and she is the recipient of a Seattle City Artist award. She earned her BA in literature and creative writing from the University of Washington and works as a teaching artist with Writers in the Schools, Path with Art, and Centrum. Kessler lives in Seattle.

Photograph by Rebecca Hoogs.

What Dad Said

by Rachel Kessler

We need to sit down to dinner

We need to listen to our mother
We need to get right with God
We need to get our homework done
We need to get outside
We need to get our laundry done
We need to clean this place up
We need to get out of bed
We need to go to the grocery store
We need some Coke and smokes
We need to make a list and check it off
We need to put this together
We need to get some sleep
People on couch
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