LatinosUSA

It was not his intention,
to sit quietly, hands together resting
in his lap, holding each other in order
to comfort and assure, as if they no longer
were headed in different directions,
as if to convince him of the wholeness of his sitting.  
 
Eyes closed wanting only to be a listener,
reduced to pure vibration, the quivering
inner ear recalls that first hint of breeze after days
of unapologetic heat from rifle fire
and body bags, that moment the lilac leaves
imperceptibly shiver as honey suckle
begins to drift across the porch,
and he sitting at the edge of a fragrant listening.
 
Eyes open to confirm that he’s not fallen,
not caught, not captured, but at a loss
for giving any kind of directions
on how to find him, hostage to a revelry,
still sitting next to a young woman
who believes that he is sitting there,
as his face begins to shatter into
the last moments of what can’t be happening.
 
Coat draped over the chair,
a wounded soldier. Folded with grief,
coat a soul waiting for rescue,
waiting for one arm, then the other,
and then to button a body closed.

Copyright © 2025 Walter Bargen
All Rights Reserved

Walter Bargen has published 26 or more books of poetry including: My Other Mother’s Red Mercedes (Lamar University Press, 2018), Until Next Time (Singing Bone Press, 2019), Pole Dancing in the Night Club of God (Red Mountain Press, 2020), and You Wounded Miracle, (Liliom Verlag, 2021). In 2023, he released Too Late to Turn Back (Singing Bone Press, 2023) and Radiation Diary: Return to the Sea (Lamar University Literary Press, 2023). He lives in Ashland, Missouri, with his wife and countless cats, raccoons, and snakes. He was appointed the first poet laureate of Missouri (2008-2009).