Canned Father (edit2)

[Leah S.]

Canned Father

You consumed canned doppelgangers
of vegetative forms, mushy zombies 'vegetative forms' makes me think of people in comas. Maybe be plain and say 'real vegetables' or 'fresh' ? I know it pre-figures the end, but I don't know as that's bad.
that you made me swallow,
sodden specters of daunting childhood
recollections that I vomit up
now and then.

Thirty years later, Mom told me
you were sorry Dad, but I saw your peas,
clad in olive green army fatigues,
and shuddered at the ensuing combat. I never played soldier with my peas, but I got it.
It didn't matter that you were a war hero
who faced dispiriting Panzers,
liberated Jews from Natzwiller,
subsisted on k-rations for months.

As demoralizing as your
Battle of the Bulge,
the dinnertime Vietnam War
News or newfangled MREs, This is confusing, I cant' tell if it is a separate phrase as indicated by the line break. Maybe a comma after 'News'?.
were your baked beans. Dodgy,
whether canned or jarred, Don't need both 'canned' and 'jarred'. Seems like it's just there to fill out the line.
staining napkins burnt sienna,
your skin color late summer, I don't know what color late summer is. The color is already established (image-wise) as the same color as the baked beans. Maybe use a texture word?
slathered with baby oil and iodine
like a bronze war memorial,
burnished and unpalatable.

I cried over beans Dad, I'd rather hear 'the beans' for the sake of rhythm.
dreaded your Lima's Not sure about the capitalization here.
sandbagging my chops. this might be US slang, but I thought at first 'chops' referred to your jaws, not chops on your plate. Maybe add 'pork' or 'lamb' to 'chops' ?
They were skin-tough and bloated,
like peas in absurd disguise. Carbuncles
removed from botanical behemoths Not sure about 'behemoths'.
that burst with a squirt
of gangrenous puss. I lanced Yuck! love it. 'Pus' only has one 's'.
them with my incisors,
gagged on their waxy cuticles.

Dad, I am not sorry
for loving fresh vegetables
and refusing to go to Dental School,
but I think of you often
since you have passed-

even if forever reminded
of scary canned things.