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Ship of Theseus
- Ship of Theseus
"they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place"
—Plutarch
There was no funeral for my father.No obituary, no fanfare. He died on aWednesday and gave his body
to Science. His widow proclaimed:"He always gave to other people."His children, the proving exception.
His eyes now look out from insidea stranger's skull. Not that we could tellone stranger from another.
Who is my father now? The gutted shell—his original ship—or the unknown vesselrebuilt with his spare parts? [End Page 38]
V. C. McCabe is author of the forthcoming collection Give the Bard a Tetanus Shot (2019). Her work has appeared in many journals, including Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, minnesota review, Tar River Poetry, Stillway, Appalachian Heritage, and Entropy. Her poetry will be featured in an ekphrastic exhibit at the FRANK Art Gallery in March. She has lived in Ireland, England, and West Virginia and can be found online at vcmccabe.com and @vcmpoetry on Twitter.
