Dora is hosting the first Poetics challenge of the New Year .. Inspired by the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop, 1911 - 1979. Dora asks us to incorporate Bishop's unique style in original poems of our own.
One year
split cleanly in two, your absence
marked on our calendar
like a shoreline retreating
each month, a shift ~ erosion the boys and I
stepped around, pretending
the earth beneath was steady
At home our three sons grew taller, increments
measured on our kitchen door frame
pencil marks rising like tides
I carried our daughter those first six months
her heartbeat like a persistent
tapping ~ morse code against the war
you were trying to outlive
You sent letters, one each day, 365 in total
describing tropical heat and humidity
the endless unraveling of bodies
how much you loved and missed us
I read each letter as if it might detonate
as if danger could travel through ink
[ later, we bound them in a pretty blue book ]