Snapshot Poem 04 October 02006

The pond is filling
with leaves, curled
and tattered and gold.

Wind shakes the gilding
from birch trees; this
neighborhood whispers

with gossip of autumn.
The news tells me my
government lies. I mourn

my lack of astonishment,
seek comfort in Mozart
and Bach. No consolation

for me in illusions of faith
and religion. These words
seem heavy as bricks,

unmovable, unyielding.
Indigestible. They catch
in my throat. They stick.

Twenty years since my
brother's death, and still
I notice this emptying day,

ash trees unveiling their
skeletons, maples on fire.
This blue and vacant sky.

Comments

[rr]

Yes. Around 20 years since my brother died too. Sometimes it feels like yesterday. Stange to watch myself aging and remember him still as 18 and feel the same way inside.

[GreenishLady]

Such a sad poem... but so beautifully done.

[dorinny]

I love the calm pace and tone, and the imagery is whimsical if not picturesque. Profoundly melancholic. Just beautiful (if mourning can be that).. I can't imagine losing a brother, but I can almost feel your loss. Thanks for this!

[loren]

Twenty years before the Fall?

I like it.

[Juliet Wilson]

This is such a sad poem. I love the way you've woven so many things together into the one overwhelming loss and that lovely last line.

[Rachel]

I really like this/ neighborhood whispers // with gossip of autumn. The sibilance of it puts me in mind of autumn leaves underfoot.