Scanning Memphis blogs, came upon this poem. It’s fantastic.
Emptying Town
by Nick Flynn
I want to erase your footprints
from my walls. Each pillow
is thick with your reasons. Omens
fill the sidewalk below my window: a woman
in a party hat, clinging
to a tin-foil balloon. Shadows
creep slowly across the tar, someone yells, “Stop!”
and I close my eyes. I can’t watch
as this town slowly empties, leaving me
strung between bon-voyages, like so many clothes
on a line, the white handkerchief
stuck in my throat. You know the way Jesus
rips open his shirt
to show us his heart, all flaming and thorny,
the way he points to it. I’m afraid
the way I’ll miss you will be this obvious.
I have a friend who everyone warns me
is dangerous, he hides
bloody images of Jesus
around my house, for me to find
when I come home; Jesus
behind the cupboard door, Jesus tucked
into the mirror. He wants to save me
but we disagree from what. My version of hell
is someone ripping open his shirt
and saying, Look what I did for you…
(HT: Bait and Switch)
That’s a really fantastic poem. Thanks for posting it.
that IS a fantastic poem.
so poignant and what a perfect ending!
i will also say thanks for posting it.
Jeez. That is really something. It makes me itch to read more, to write more. Oh but there’s my beer instead. Ugh sometimes I hate being out of college when I had poems due every week.
party hats are so cute that i have a collection of them*.~
i prefer to use large party hats because they are kinda cool and nice “