August 2015
I have survived 30 years in Information Technology and am now retired. I live in Massachusetts with my wife and two cats. My tanka poetry has been published in many online and print journals. I won second place in the 2012 Tanka Society of America contest, and received an honorable mention in the 2014 contest.
Walking in Grafton
I heard the tapping of his cane
before we saw him —
an old man in a green shirt
emerging in a scene
of colonial stone walls,
pink flowers,
sunlit trees overflowing with leaves.
He could have been Father Time
himself, shuffling his way
inevitably toward us
his cane clicking like a clock.
As he drew closer
I could see the weight
of human history
bearing down on his sagging shoulders
and when he looked up, I noticed
his cheeks looked frozen
in a crooked shape
like a couple of sharp stones
left behind by a glacier
cobbled together
to form a face.
At the moment of our meeting
he surprised us with a smile
as if to defy his own gravity
then pulled an instant
from his pocket of time
and placed it in our hands
as a gift from eternity
before going, tapping
on his way.
©2015 Ken Slaughter