"Photograph of My Father In His Twenty Second Year" ~Raymond Carver

October.  Here in this dank, unfamiliar kitchen 
I study my father's embarrassed young man's face. 
Sheepish grin, he holds in one hand a string 
of spiny yellow perch, in the other 
a bottle of Carlsbad Beer. 

In jeans and denim shirt, he leans 
against the front fender of a 1934 Ford. 
He would like to pose bluff and hearty for his posterity, 
Wear his old hat cocked over his ear. 
All his life my father wanted to be bold. 

But the eyes give him away, and the hands 
that limply offer the string of dead perch 
and the bottle of beer.  Father, I love you, 
yet how can I say thank you, I who can't hold my liquor either, 
and don't even know the places to fish?

This poem by Raymond Carver speaks of his reflection about the way he feels for his father.  As he looks at a photograph of his father at his very own age, he finds himself relating to the photograph and finding similarities between he and his father.  It seems as though Carver wrote the poem to show his appreciation and the thanks he has and owes his father.  

"Sheepish grin, he holds in his hand a string of shiny yellow perch, in the other hand a bottle of Carlsbad beer," implies that the appearance of his father in the photograph reminds him a lot of himself at the same age.  The lines, "All his life my father wanted to be bold.  But the eyes give him away, and the hands that limply offer the string of dead perch and the bottle of beer," say that the son understands that his father had great ambitions when he was young, but like himself and many young men, wasn't perfect and didn't always reach or exceed his goals.  The third quotation that speaks for the overall theme of the poem is, "Father, I love you, yet how can I say thank you, I who can't hold my liquor either, and don't even know the places to fish?" because it states that the son truly loves his father and appreciates all that he did for him, that he recognizes that he has passed traits onto him, and that he is glad to be like him.

This poem, I believe, speaks for many sons and daughters in the way they feel about their parents.  As any child of a parent, we have undconditional love for our parents and understand that like us, they are human and make mistakes.  Regardless, we are proud to be their children and represent them even long after they are gone.  The similarities between a child and their parent serves as a constant reminder ofthem.  Carver's "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year," says just that, but in a creative way.