Some psychologists say that we all have a love-hate relationship with our parents. It seems I can relate to this claim very well. I feel like I am in a constant battle with my feelings for my parents. One minute I am happy with them and then in a flash I can become so upset or angry with them. This so called love-hate relationship seems to become evident in Lucille Clifton's poem, "forgiving my father" …showed first 75 words of 345 total…

…showed last 75 words of 345 total…there is reason to believe that a love-hate relationship is present in both of these poems. However, could it be possible that this change in tone, between affection and anger, is really a way of permanently putting their fathers' images to rest? Plath ends her poem by stating, "Daddy…I'm through"(80), and likewise, Clifton ends her poem by stating "no accounting will open them up"(23). Who is to say what it is they were implying?