Beat me to it. When I discovered this poem last year it just did me in. I would guess many ESL stdents could identify.
"Sundays too my father got up early
And put his clothes on in the blueback cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
[[shortened quote]]
Long Distance by Tony Harrison.
Nettles by Vernon Scannell.
On My First Sonne by Ben Jonson.
The Lesson by Edward Lucie-Smith.
My father thought it by Simon Armitage.
All nice and short for EAL.
From the same group, the OP could show them the bizarre video for Silent Running, where the kid realizes his dad is some alien from outer space.
Or something.
This one’s a little (okay, a lot) depressing: Disappoint, by Assemblage 23. It’s written from the point of view of a son wondering if he had anything to do with his father’s suicide, and it’s based on true life.
How about Kenny Rogers - Coward of the County?
If we’re branching out, here’s a really good one about fathers and daughters: Tori Amos’s Winter (though it might be a bit harder to understand for ESL students). Beautiful song, though.
I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as daddy
A man whose hungry mouth is prest
Against mother’s flowing breast;
A dude that looks for love all day,
When Mom fails to throw some his way;
[[shortened]]
<edges away from Markxxx>
<joins Gyrate. Don’t look away, just keep smiling and I’ll try to find the door behind me>
Once you’ve made them weep with Cat’s in the Cradle, make them sob with “Dance with my Father” by Luther Vandross.
I thought that was going to be My Old Man’s a Dustman.
Oh, my old man’s a dustman
He wears a dustman’s hat
He wears cor blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat
He looks a proper nana
In his great big hob nailed boots
He’s got such a job to pull em up
That he calls them daisy roots
[[excerpt shortened]]
Throws a can in the wrong direction to misdirect Markxxx while we make our escape
“Walk Like a Man” by Bruce Springsteen
“Papa Was a Rolling Stone” by the Temptations
“Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” by U2 (all about Bono and his terminally ill father)
Then there’s “Soliloquy,” a big number from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ***Carousel. *** This number comes when Billy Bigelow has just found out he’s going to be a Dad. In the first half, he boasts about all the cool, macho things he’ll do with his son. The second half is more tender and reflective, and comes when he realizes the child MAY be a girl, and will need very different things from a father.
Ditto!
Walk like a Man - Four Seasons
I’ve Been Watching You- Rodney Adkins
Theme to Courtship of Eddie’s Father
If you’re talkin’ family, you’re talkin’ Country and Western -
That’s My Job - Conway Twitty
Use Mine - Steve Seskin
If you aren’t in tears and calling your dad after listening to these two, you have no soul (assuming you had a good dad).
Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin.
Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven
Tom Paxton’s My Son John
People, please keep the SDMB rules on copyrights in mind. Unless you’re quoting something in the public domain (and I don’t think that applies to any of the songs or poems used here, although I admit I’m not positive), use no more than about five lines or one verse. Link to another site for the rest of the text. Thank you.