A GOOGLE MAPS VIEW
OF THE HOUSE WHERE I GREW UP
Why must I see it from above, the time
Lapse trapped in some undated spring I can’t
Account for, the crabapples flaunting
Flesh-toned blossoms in the backyard climbing
Branch after retouched branch above unmown
Grass past the roof, ambition noted, beds
Impatient with daffodils dug up and spread
With added leaves below windows if blown
Up larger might appear undraped, emptied
Kitchen cupboards airless, footfalls scoring
Speckled tiles long stripped away, no present
Left to loiter through, petals shed, brainstem
Extant in unturned soil, the locked front door
Yellow still, impulse to knock hesitant.
Author’s Bio
John Barton’s recent books include Polari, We Are Not Avatars: Essays, Memoirs, Manifestos, and The Essential Douglas LePan. Signal and Porcupine’s Quill will respectively publish Lost Family (sonnets), his twelfth collection of poetry, and The Essential Derk Wynand in 2020. He lives in Victoria.