That s the way it goes I have a solid brief note that s been with the readers since before I move to this awful place and haven t heard squat Re Heaney yeah I saw this morning Not to be callous in the face of a man s death but my first thought was that my usual 30 second phone conversation with my father will be a solid 5 minutes this weekend because of this The old man is mad for him and rightly so By old man I mean my father not my scrotum as I usually use the phrase My scrotum is indifferent when it comes to poetry And for the record I only read love letters from living people if they take the form of an elaborate priamel that culminates in praise of my old man