About the Original Cover

A Father's Place, An Eclectic Collection
By Anthony Buccino

"In the top drawer under the balled socks was a folded newspaper clipping of the first article I ever had published in the newspaper. It was something about the goals of the long-haired generation, and the newspaper people had left off my by-line -- who knows why?

"Dad cut it out and took it to whatever construction job he was working at and showed it to the guys. "Hey, my kid wrote this," I can hear him say, as he beamed. They doubted him because my name wasn't on it. But he never questioned it...

"... And in this top drawer on a string are bands he never placed on the leg of a struggling squab. Jingling here, his dog tags from World War II.

"In a silent slice of his life, other things, the carpenter's apron, a skeleton key, a pocket knife, a pocket watch and fob and the battered old carpenter's ruler and a box of those flat carpenter pencils.

"So, he never saw the book I dedicated to him, the one with his photo on the cover, twice. And also on that cover, the string of bands, the dog tags, the carpenter's apron, the pocket knife, the pocket watch and the battered old carpenter's ruler."

... Magical top drawer 

Full essay appears in Rambling Round - Inside & Outside at the Same Time