Selected Poems
Message
Almost the entire family made it, through snow, for Sunday supper.
Her husband set the long table and placed over-full serving bowls
Her daughter opened a bottle of wine and turned on the stereo.
The instrumental theme from Dr. Zhivago warmed empty spaces.
Her family, in the foyer, shook off the snow and took off coats and boots
Seeing the flashing light, her son turned the single switch to “play”
on the old cassette answering machine. A single hang up clicked
having gone unanswered. The cassette tape continued to whir, whir.
Minutes later, we sat to eat and began to share the meal.
Then unexpected sound like light from a super nova star arrived
from a galaxy; torn apart eons ago, like distant absurd cosmic taffy.
Her voice called from an empty kitchen to the now full dining room
“I'll be home soon, see you when we get there, I love you, Bye”
All the air was sucked out the room. In a deafening discomfort
silence, we sat like prisoners, numb and bound, dumbfounded
and motionless. We had buried her only three days before.
Her husband set the long table and placed over-full serving bowls
Her daughter opened a bottle of wine and turned on the stereo.
The instrumental theme from Dr. Zhivago warmed empty spaces.
Her family, in the foyer, shook off the snow and took off coats and boots
Seeing the flashing light, her son turned the single switch to “play”
on the old cassette answering machine. A single hang up clicked
having gone unanswered. The cassette tape continued to whir, whir.
Minutes later, we sat to eat and began to share the meal.
Then unexpected sound like light from a super nova star arrived
from a galaxy; torn apart eons ago, like distant absurd cosmic taffy.
Her voice called from an empty kitchen to the now full dining room
“I'll be home soon, see you when we get there, I love you, Bye”
All the air was sucked out the room. In a deafening discomfort
silence, we sat like prisoners, numb and bound, dumbfounded
and motionless. We had buried her only three days before.
