January 2021
Sam Barbee
sambarbee@bellsouth.net
Bio Note: I suppose I am a southern poet and many of my poems draw on that association. My poems have appeared in Poetry South, The NC Literary Review, and Asheville Poetry Review, plus on-line journals Vox Poetica, Courtland Review, and New Verse News. My second poetry collection, That Rain We Needed (2016, Press 53), was a nominee for the Roanoke-Chowan Award as one of North Carolina’s best poetry collections of 2016. I am a Pushcart nominee.

Benchmarks

We dispose of Christmas greenery, 
box ornaments.  I clear the mantel 
and study you mirrored over my shoulder.  
My fatigue lags, also framed there.  
Winter malaise shrouds our living room—
libations so recently the norm.  
I shovel Yule ash out with cinders.

After leftovers, we drive
to the cemetery to retrieve 
Christmas arrangements, 
considering pertinent topics:
over-spending and over-eating.
						Ginkgo branches 
sway in crisp breeze.  I tighten my scarf.
You bend to straighten a festive planter  
beside the cobblestone walk.
Poinsettia frames and pale carnations 
decorate this grid.
			   Adorned with 
faint smiles and warm fashions,
we set high standards for one another:
lovely trimmings and languages.
Withered foliage to our chests, 
derivations surface, console what remains.  
Dissensions arise by habit, and you  
dump brown flowers 
in a convenient barrel.
©2021 Sam Barbee
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell her or him. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL