New Poetry by Frank C. Modica

Decay   

I bicycle past half empty strip malls 

and worn-out fast food franchises 

to the edge of the April prairie.

The sun sets over the corn desert,

golden spikes pierce pink and red clouds 

over fields stripped of life,

or so it seems.

Yet nature finds a way---

weeds grow in wild profusion 

along roadsides and ditches--

velvet leaf, corn cockle, 

Powell's amaranth, Bird’s foot violet

along with a promiscuous outpouring 

of wild flowers: wild garlic, 

thimble weeds, purple milkweed. 

Life thrives cheek and jowl 

with dead coyotes, deer, possum, 

littering rural byways.

This juxtaposition feels like rough letters

incised on eroded country grave stones

battered by decades of rain and hail 

or toppled over and broken by vandals–

loud and defiant in the spring dusk,

they speak when I scan the stones with my hands, 

births and deaths humming under my fingertips.

- © Frank C. Modica 2022

Frank C. Modica is a cancer survivor and retired teacher who taught children with special needs for over 34 years.  His work is forthcoming or has appeared in Blue Mountain Review,  Lemonspouting, and  Fahmidan Journal. Frank’s first chapbook, nominated for an Eric Hoffer Book Award, was published this fall by Kelsay Books.