Gargoyle home

Table of Contents for Issue 3

This work first appeared in Gargoyle, issue #3. Please respect the fact that this material is copyrighted. It is made available here without charge for personal use only. It may not be stored, displayed, published, reproduced, or used for any other purpose without the express consent of the author or artist.

Visiting Your Home in the Country

Jeffrey D. Talmadge

for M.

I was thinking of a time
before waters, before scotches
and recollections of sun
on mornings nameless in light.
Leaves peaked green before fall; I
drove those roads familiar to
you, on toward Charles Town; I was
in your name written, breathless
on fields of corn, heavy-headed
with rain. In a town only vaguely
familiar I paced sidewalks, meeting
reflections in storefronts,
looking for you. Days were
that I wore your soul like
scarves around my neck in wind,
waving, waiting for your return;
Naked, unfeathered, it cried
for warmth, a voice, a song,
to tell me the night is warm
and there is time.
But now,
the sky cold and blue,
roads worn, crops dead, I reflect
on days more wisely spent,
and they are not with you.

| Paycock | Catalog | Gargoyle | Lucinda | Mondo | Richard | Atticus | Links