“How Any Human Heart Learns”
Poems on fathers, lost and found, by Arthur Solway and Alex Rettie
Order the Summer 2026 issue of Nimrod International Journal or subscribe today.
Today we bring you two subtle, keenly observed poems about fathers and children from our Summer 2026 issue. Each focuses on moments of filial pain. In the first poem, by Arthur Solway, the pain is that of abandonment, a fresh, sharp, crushing pain that teaches all involved “[t]hose first lessons / in how any human heart / learns of irreconcilable failures.” In the second poem, by Alex Rettie, we encounter a kind of phantom pain, the pain of a long absence, eventually brought to the surface as a half-conscious cry for help. And the cry is answered.
Whippoorwill That night he drove away, leaving the kids crushed and crying on the family room sofa. His Oldsmobile station wagon pulling out of the driveway and onto a dark suburban street named after a bird. The headlights casting shadows on what?—infidelity, shame, the recklessness. Those first lessons in how any human heart learns of irreconcilable failures. Like the bird, a nightjar, whose shrill nocturnal song in the name of love sounds the same as its name. — Arthur Solway Protection “Jansen, you gotta wear gloves when you work on the grinder. You want hurt yourself?” And then Kaczmarek looked down at Frank’s left hand. He saw the scar before the boy could jerk his arm away. “It’s nothing. An accident is all, ya know?” He’d done it Sunday night. Sometimes the burning made you feel alright when you were getting lonely. He had meant to do it somewhere hidden, but it felt good, the old man noticing like he had. That’s probably how it was to have a dad— he’d hit your backside with a leather belt when you were a little shit, but he’d care if you were hurt. He’d even stroke your hair. — Alex Rettie
Arthur Solway is the author of two collections of poetry, Friday Night, Shanghai (Finishing Line Press, 2023) and Siddhartha On Fire (Swan Scythe Press. 2023). His poems have been featured by the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, The Antioch Review, Arts & Letters, Barrow Street, BOMB, The London Magazine, Salmagundi, Southern Poetry Review, TriQuarterly, and Tupelo Quarterly.
Alex Rettie writes from Calgary, AB. Recent poems of his have been published or are forthcoming in The Colosseum Journal, Dappled Things, and New Verse Review. He is the Editor in Chief of the online poetry journal Poems for Persons of Interest.
Order the Summer 2026 issue of Nimrod International Journal or subscribe today.