The Personal Space of Norman Milliken « Poetry «
before he was fifty-six
before he was fifty-six
and old with cancer
and life,
my father
framed himself
in my memory.
musky goldenrod
and autumn cold
clung
to his Woolrich hunting coat,
came through the house
and stayed
long enough
to never forget me.
Leanne on Aug. 18Norm, some brilliant turns of phrase here lift this to something quite special. Lines like "framed himself in my memory" and "long enough to never forget me" are nicely skewed from what we'd expect to read, and the imagery in the third stanza is sparsely elegant.
This was genuinely a pleasure to read.
Norm on Aug. 18Thanks, Leanne, for your kind words. This poem and two others woke me at 3:00 am a few nights ago, the three of them nearly completely written.
Anstey on Aug. 22I love the way the line breaks do so much work to shift the meanings and reading of this. Really nicely done.
