IMPERFECT VISION
A secret at home is like rocks under tide
………..-Dinah Craik
i. so you said
everything that shouldn’t be said
shouldn’t be and the house exhales
the children stare
eyes the stained-blue glass
of heaven of angels
ricocheting ceilings and corners
and baseboards and doors
even the foundations tremble
will not/can not
be silenced
ii. and a child is born
and a mother dies
a heart for a heart
an I for an I
god’s whim
imperfect vision
twists space and time out of perspective
such a small death perhaps no one
will notice once you brought me
hot chocolate in my favourite cup
that was before
iii. but our dead want company
and I no longer notice long afternoons
sadden into evening
tears
until my newly-dead arrive
swearing
they can be or not be maybe
I should write a book of the dead
of the dying of
the damned children who have forgotten
who do not even not know they have forgotten
iv. still getting used to it
in my first home I dreamt of flying
my second home was you
the third lies
behind double-blind windows bolted doors
where I absorb the sound of you
the taste of you smell of you feel
of your old sweaters scruffy shoes books
CDs DVDs iPhone so much
you left so little
comfort
v. but you loved our children
taught them to read the A to Z of it
the headline to footnote of it
now teach me translate the history
you could not reveal to the children
the truth you would never
tell me
manifestly myopic
still aching to make it clear
make it real
whatever it is
Author’s Bio
K.V. Skene is a Canadian poet whose peripatetic lifestyle has permitted perpetual crisscrossings of Canada, England, and Ireland. Skene’s poetry has appeared internationally in literary magazines, journals, and anthologies. Most recent publications include Unoriginal Sins (erbacce-press) and The Love Life of Bus Shelters (Cinnamon Press, 2019.)