A POEM - TURN IT OFF!

TURN IT OFF!
I hadn’t been home much
in about a decade.
A birthday here,
a Christmas dinner there.
So when I went to visit after a long trip
around the world,
I’d forgotten about
my father’s ridiculously stingy stance
towards water consumption.
He’d snap on the faucet
for a split second
to rinse a dish
or wash his hands,
and when he gave water
to the three dogs
he’d fill the bowl just enough
so that the bottom had gotten wet.
Then I remembered when I was younger,
how I’d get into the shower,
spin the knob
and before the water had adjusted
to a suitable temperature,
before a minute was up,
he’d be wrapping on the door,
“hey, that’s enough!”
or “you’ll drain the well!”
Now sitting there one night,
this was the springtime,
I asked regarding the water,
“didn’t you guys get
eleven feet of snow this winter?
Hasn’t that snow made plenty water?”