After 6:00 PM

By Sahana Prabu

Posted on August 3, 2026

Cover Image Title: Father and Daughter

Cover Image by: Meiliyl

Classification: Digital Artwork

Specifications: Resized from 3000 x 2000 pixels

Year: 2026

Location: Ontario, Canada

Father loved to throw things out but he kept all the math textbooks he bought just for you. After school he’d explain equivalent fractions with neon highlighters.

He’d color messily in all the notebooks so you’d understand.

Neon yellow over shaded neon blue squares. Orange over neon pink.

Because a half of four eighths was two eighths

Mum used to muffle her giggles in the kitchen when she heard his yelling and cursing. 

She thought it was funny. We both did.

But one Tuesday, my heart was felled when you wanted me to help 

with homework instead. Your lips trembled

and the light in your eyes always snuffed out at 6:00 pm.

So I drew rectangles in the same notebook father used to teach you 

while his pink highlighter was still stuck in the pages.

But from that day, I've learned to notice. Father wasn’t yelling.

Every school night, for a few seconds he’d reach his zenith. 

The following heartbeats, I felt his voice pleading with you to understand.

To try a problem on your own because you’re such a wallflower.

School was never your thing.

I knew it. Father did too. It's why he bought you a piano and glass chess pieces

Even when you never played either.

Every now and then, I wondered whether father thought you were

the crumbling roses that grew on the vines in our backyard.

But all I ever saw was his face when he felt bad at dinner. 

You wouldn’t know because you fell asleep. Every day at

midnight, he would walk into your bedroom crestfallen 

and cuddle next to you. 

Description: 

I wrote this about the moment I realized my father’s frustration wasn't actually anger; it was hope and desperation that my sister would grow to do better in school and in life in general. For a long time, my mom and I just laughed at how worked up he got over third-grade math, but then I had to step into his shoes and help my sibling myself. This poem is intended to reflect on this emotional distance that sometimes holds so many untold words and love.

[ Writing Editor: Kimberly Nguyen ]