December 2017
C J Clark
cjclark144@att.net
cjclark144@att.net
For me, poetry is a form of story-telling. It’s an opportunity to illuminate ordinary moments, to peel away complex layers of common dramas, to flatter life’s imperfections. I am an artist, fiction author and hospice nurse living in the Texas Hill Country with my three comical dogs, who always manage to show me new ways to appreciate the natural world. http://www.cjclarkartist.com.
SOLITARY DEPARTURE
It's a year since I died
And still no one has come
To linger under the elms
Beside the lone train
Or lean against headstones
Or brush autumn leaves
Off Born, Died and Beloved
No one has come to bring
White irises or roses, remember
How I'd loved white flowers? No?
Blanched and pure and ghostly
Like moonlight dancing
Upon emerald heavens.
GENERATIONS
When they died I think
They became flowers spilling
Over the ledge overlooking
The home they'd occupied
For generations, still invasive
As southern wisteria vines
Lavender and fragrant
And full of gossip spreading
Every direction, a slow, certain
Strangulation of the family tree.
© 2017 C J Clark
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