I'm sitting in the diner across the table from my father

This is our one chance to catch up, the same way it has been for months

I play with my eggs, telling him all that goes on in a world he is cut off from

But I look up and he has cut himself off

Emails, texts, Facebook updates are what consumes his attention

Instead of me, his daughter, a real person

I wait in silence, knowing he'll wrap it up soon

After all, this is our time, he wouldn't waste it

Would he?

My plate becomes empty as my stomach gets full

But his food is untouched and his phone battery gets low

His phone gives off two beeps, its farewell and my saving grace

But I suddenly see the look of disappointment on his face

It is too much of me to ask why he prefers his phone

Instead of me, his daugher, a real person

Everyone in the diner is laughing, catching up, kicking back

While our booth is silent, despite my father's phone going black

I continue to tell him all the things I have done

My award for the spelling bee, and the track medal I won

But his mind is somewhere else, fantasizing about his phone

He cares more about a dead hunk of plastic

Than me, his daughter, a real person