Extended family isn’t something I ever talk about, or write about, I realize. Those… extensions run a long way, and while I don’t love them any less for it, those extensions rarely ever lend themselves to poetry. However, this morning I considered the OTHER extended family I have, by law.
Cousin Mary Lee’s prompt to the Inklings’ poetry group this month was a haiku sequence in which they, using a mentor poem, talked about the topic of poetry without mentioning it by name. I was inspired to approach my own connections thusly, in a roundabout, gingerly fashion, carefully not naming – but letting the outline of a thing define its shape. I used both religious and forensic metaphors, which reflect specifics, and I was amazed by how much I wanted to reveal, when the object is to, in part, hint and obscure. I’ll have to try this again sometime…
A Last Supper
Actions speak louder
Than the space between silence –
Would you pass the salt?
hearts hide in plain sight
seeking, though silent. Something
Sings out its presence
prodigals plead for
reunion, not reckoning
choke on fatted calves
if we measure life
not in time, but in heartbreak
we’d call time of death
crisply chalked outline –
officially declare it
done: on to dessert
Poetry Friday today is hosted by Irene @ Live Your Poem.