Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year

In this poem by Raymond Carver, the child notices that his father, "would like to pose bluff and hearty for his posterity." (line 8) The child who knows his father better than anyone knows that he has always tried to be bold. Although the father always wanted to be bold, "The Eyes give him away, and the hands that limply offer the string of dead perch." He was just a loving father who wanted to be good with his kids and make memories with his child.