Andrew Bambrick
This poem is dedicated to my vanished village and its forgotten customs: the unbreakable bond.
Knock on Pine
Somber men wearing black
Armbands sit up front.
Women in black
Sniffle, swallow sobs
Then tears.
The sermon
Dollops of memories and hope.
A rose window
Shaft of light
Warms the pine...
Slow Start
Thin white streaks cut across the black sky,
Gradually plum and rose clouds appear.
The golden dawn shines.
THis is the retiree's alarm clock.
It's movement time.
Bits of dream fragments float by
Coffee brewing
Pregnant silence
Hope awakened.
Screen on.
Chatter rustles in.
Reflection gives way
To active dismay.
Editor's note: May is Mental Health Month.
Catching Shadows
Try catching shadows a child's game.
Thrilling and exhausting.
Impossible to outrun our shadows.
Their appearance and disappearance
A bit scary.
They can be seen but unable to touch.
Unwanted companions are they.
Adult shadows feel palpable.
Fear, anger, rage,...
Changing Portable Tools
Lift on high the portable idol,
Our sacred co-traveler, the iPhone.
Idol entry gained
By a tap, slide, access code.
The invisible becomes visible.
Seduction guaranteed.
Distraction expected.
Life membership painless.
Attraction and adoration for non-living object embarrassing.
Escape thoughts socially disloyal.
The portable idol morphed into...
The Braided Bread
The braided bread
Sustained us across the sea
And kept the stories of our old ways alive.
This Christmas Eve
We gather and knead
The hopes, promises and forgiven failures
Into the braided bread.
Our family history baked into the bread.
The telling and retelling...
Pandora's Jar
The signal given.
Midterm hostilities commence.
Plagues flutter and descend,
Rising from the open Pandora's jar.
Civility is the first to leave.
Envy, spite and revenge follow.
Each plague coated with
The smell of singed hair and mud,
Burned and thrown by
Self-made political celebrities
Thoroughly blinded by...
Salt Lick Pleasures
The salt lick is a deer's pleasure.
With head bobbing in mindless repetition
They continue until satiety.
Opioid heads bobbing in mindless repetition
Continue without satiety.
Narcan shots give brief resurrection.
Their sudden blue-sky optimism, hasty promises and cobbled dreams
Adhere to "vital lies"...
Blood Bath
Within the coming months an avalanche of "pick me"
Political ads will fill the digital world.
Parties and candidates will equate passion with truth.
In heated debates reason will become disengaged.
Protesters with clenched fist, raised still arm,
Unbowed head and strident pace...
"Buy Me" ads activate our susceptible genes.
Happy talk merchants are anxious
To furnish us with products
Designed to break the chains
Of our discomfort and pain.
From the research lab to our front door
Relief with Mercury speed guaranteed.
Pain-free faces happy and content
Dominate the...
"D" Day Cycle
More prolific than dust bunnies
Under the bed.
Items once memory filled
Now face ejection.
Parting with them inevitable.
Final touching and farewells
Necessary for a ritual release.
Curb pickup boxes await their final transport.
Losses shortly lived.
New items destined to become
Moments of nostalgia.
Another decluttering...