Grief goes unrewarded. We make death masks
of chalk dust, stuff our living selves into
hollow trees. A circling owl rips the seams
made of our lips and eyelids and returns
the thread to the spool with a simple cry.
It is not enough that we grieve among
heat sinks and cooling pools thickly carpeted
and layered with muted woods and tarnished brass
handles on drawers forever closed, no piles
of papers or skittering batteries,
push-pins, no heirloom spoons or silver-hafted
carving knives. No detritus of human lives.
Daniel M. Ford is a poet, novelist and teacher from Maryland. As a poet, his work has appeared in Soundings Review, Phoebe, Floorboard Review, The Cossack, Vending Machine Press, and the Delmarva Review. His first novel, Ordination: Book I of the Paladin Trilogy was published in 2016 (Santa Fe Writer’s Project). He can be found at www.danielmford.com or on twitter @soundingline.
The Delmarva Review, a nonprofit literary journal, publishes compelling new poetry, fiction and nonfiction from writers within the region and beyond. The Review celebrates its Tenth Anniversary edition in November. It is supported by individual contributions, the Eastern Shore Writers Association, and a grant from the Talbot County Arts Council with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council. For more information, please visit: www.delmarvareview.com.
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