Lack of Forgiveness in Lucille Cliftons poem Forgiving My Father

The agnomen of Lucille Cliftons poem, forgiving my father, seems to be in lemonlike opposition with the poem itself. There seems to be no forgiveness, yet the title claims that it is there. The entire poem focuses on the debt of the authors father. it is Friday. she says, we have come to the paying of the bills. (1-2). muchover perhaps it doesnt necessarily mean that it is literally Friday, perhaps she just representation it is the end, and maybe the debt isnt one of money, besides of love. Clifton is using a monetary debt to mean a debt of love and affection. She uses this symbolism to show that by the end of the poem, she has forgiven her father, but it is not forgiveness as we would normally think of it. The poem begins by talking about how it is payday, but the father, as a ghost, is asking for more time to pay. How can a ghost pay anything? Even if he could get the extension, he would never be able to pay anything because he is dead. So why does she say it is payday? Per haps the answer lies in lines 7 and 8 when she says, my mothers hand opens in her early grave and I incorporate it out ...