New Poetry by Frank C. Modica

chernobyl-rust and steel

this massive steel radar web

built to detect American missiles

hides secrets in dark recesses

silent spaces for invisible spiders

abandoned     useless metal

like thousands of hair curlers

barbed wire fences gone wild

no havens for people or birds 

this mute patchwork abacus

these cold  metallic interwoven nests

abandoned      strung together

catch strands of wild feathers

dry leaves rattle under rusty pylons 

cracked concrete behind the porous

ephemeral wind break      an absence 

hovers over bombed    farmlands

- © Frank C. Modica 2023

Frank C. Modica is a retired teacher who taught children with special needs for over 34 years. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Dust Poetry, New Square, Sheila-Na-Gig, and Lit Shark. Frank's first chapbook, “What We Harvest,” nominated for an Eric Hoffer book award, was published in the fall of 2021 by Kelsay Books. His second chapbook, “Old Friends,” was published this past December by Cyberwit Press.