A Levee to Absence
the cards are brief this year
in shallow condolence
a levee to absence, broken
the scattered sorrow
left for salvage
how they talk of passing
yet visit as though gentle as
the first faint call
the quiet summons to duty,
steadfast the whether of breaks
the happiest dispersed
days drag through cement
mercury for the veins of us
caught in winter, November
veers without season
too cold for painting
this colour we were
a dash to break a sentence
run for cover, highlight
crimson for specifics
an outline to bridge
this stalling year’s account
supernumerary to how and why
between twig and wake
this inconvenient bird
a rustle of dark, nests
then stirs unbeckoned
daubed as it must be
wily and propped against
a door of feathers for words
open notebook of hours
I sit the post waiting
sandbagging against breach
- © James Walton 2021
James Walton is published in many anthologies, journals, and newspapers. He has been shortlisted for the ACU National Poetry Prize, the MPU International Poetry Prize, The James Tate Prize, and the Ada Cambridge Prize. Four collections of his poetry have been published. He was nominated for ‘The Best of the Net’ 2019, and is a Pushcart Prize 2021 nominee. He is a winner of the Raw Art Review Chapbook Prize. He was a librarian, a cattle breeder, and mostly a public sector union official. He can be found at: jameswalton.poetry.blog
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