Father is half of
parenthood, but sometimes
he is less than half
because he is preoccupied by
his very important job
Father is one when
he suddenly has a day off and
decides to teach you how to
ride bicycle or swim
Father is zero when
his very important job sent him overseas
for very important tasks
and mom has to make every decision on her own
Father becomes one after mom’s death
his presence is the only
but all parenthood
Father is zero again after
his own passing
his absence is the evidence of our
failed adulthood
without exception
C J. Anderson-Wu (吳介禎) is a Taiwanese writer who has published two collections about Taiwan’s military dictatorship (1949–1987), known as the White Terror: “Impossible to Swallow” (2017) and “The Surveillance” (2020). Currently she is working on her third book “Endangered Youth—to Hong Kong.” Her short stories have been shortlisted for a number of international literary awards, she also won the Strands Lit International Flash Fiction Competition, and the Invisible City Blurred Genre Literature Competition.