Congratulations to Kenneth and his poem Summer Home. The first poetry post. I enjoyed reading all work submitted for April, here's hoping May will bring me equal pleasure.
Summer Home
We all suddenly disappear from time to time.
It is not intentional, even when the thought
is as plain as the hands on a clock face.
It is the path that leads into the woods
or the rails that the hobos ride
or the long American ribbon of highway.
And even though all paths and roads and rails
eventually lead to the banks of the Acheron
that is farther than anyone I know
will travel today—a Saturday in April
with blooms bursting forth from trees
and all the colorful tulips tall in the garden.
I own a house upon the Acheron’s near shore
and rent the spare room upstairs
to the dark angel who glows white light
that illuminates the river and far bank—
that tunnel feeling, that warm grip of wood
as oars stoke the river’s water.
But my house is not where you disappeared
when you vanished last Wednesday
somewhere between George R. R. Martin
and J. R. R. Tolkien at the local library.
Your fantastical search continues
in its attempt to locate the thirteenth century
in the Allegheny Mountains
long before the white men arrived
with their cutting tools
that harvest both trees and rock.
-Kenneth P. Gurney -
bio: Kenneth P. Gurney lives in Albuquerque, NM, USA. He edits the New Mexico Poetry anthology Adobe Walls. His poems appear regularly in print and on the web. For complete publishing credits and available books visit http://www.kpgurney.me/Poet/Welcome.html.