Remnants

I went over to the ______’s house
To look through my stuff in the garage

It was there from when ____ left me
In the autumn five years ago

The cool wind was blowing
Through the changing leaves

Winter coming




__________’s son was there
And he walked up to the barn with me

We spoke directly, but indirectly
About the situation

I looked through things and found
An old CD, on which my ex-wife

Had written, in permanent marker
With sincere, and childlike script

Our two names, connected with a plus sign



While we moved a few boxes
___________ arrived in her car

And invited me in, so we talked for a while
And didn’t talk, because her son was there

About the disintegration of her family
Or _____________’s many affairs

I told them I would see them next week






The amalgam pavement outside the library

Seems to contain universes
____________, the librarian, knows me and

Indicating the Union soldier statue
We speak about the South

I come to escape a red haired angel/tormentor
To retreat, as self-styled aristocrats do

Onto family land



There is nothing remaining of me
As I unload the car with the detritus of 45 years

In this world, and a lovely woman from the past
Smiles to me as she steps out of the bridal shop

In her face a gentle, frightened, happy, aloof, dispassionate
Gleam of memory

In the local roadways, ground into every mile of asphalt
Ten thousand lives, love, marriage, children

In the windows of stores, the haunting faces of ghosts
Women standing alone in their driveways, at the midpoint

Between youth and old age, between joy and bitterness



And as far as me, as always

Driving, seemingly only at home, only at peace
Putting on garments that pass for the Self, and dressing emptiness

In songs from speakers in the back seats