January 2017
James Keane
jkeanenj@optonline.net
jkeanenj@optonline.net
"What Comes Next," inspired by the memory of waking up in my parents' house the morning after my father's suicide, was originally published in the June 2004 issue of Lily after I agreed to rework my submission, tighten the language in several places. Having been in the serious poetry world for roughly 10 minutes, I was elated when the editor, Susan Culver, accepted the reworked version. Then, when the issue was posted, I was absolutely floored by the compliment Susan paid me in her introduction to the issue (the italics are mine):
"James Keane - who, as a sidenote, is one of the most dedicated, hard-working writers I have ever
met - takes us on an intimate, aching journey of his own - that of losing his father, in 'What Comes Next.'"
To this day, I have wondered if she was thinking of someone else. In reality, I never met Susan, but I surely would have loved to.
"James Keane - who, as a sidenote, is one of the most dedicated, hard-working writers I have ever
met - takes us on an intimate, aching journey of his own - that of losing his father, in 'What Comes Next.'"
To this day, I have wondered if she was thinking of someone else. In reality, I never met Susan, but I surely would have loved to.
What Comes Next
Silence never beckoned,
helpless in the preying darkness
downstairs. Breathless to save
the man who was my father
from breathing in the peace
of unceasing night, pausing all around
the bedroom of my childhood, it
lifted my prayer to the bleakness
gathering for a glimmering of
brightness somewhere beyond
the dawning of the gray, when
a man’s father, in a dead November,
never will be the same; never again
will anyone pound and scream
his name. Not that silence
ever made any difference
to a mask of bloated anger.
What comes next
beyond the bedroom of my childhood?
Silence beckons morning cold to breathe
all around me. From a distant window only
bleakness, glimmering, brightens turning
away. Waking up,
the silence
and the gray I remember
forever
in the dawning of this day.
Author's Note: "What Comes Next" became the title poem to my chapbook published by Finishing Line Press in 2013.
©2016 James Keane
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