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Matchstick Men
by Ken HarnischScattered among my souvenirs are
Pictures of the matchstick men;
The women who loved them;
The babies that graced their slender arms
As they held them to the sun, offerings to
The ancient Kodak gods who froze their
Images onto sepia walls for near eternity
There is such stiffness there, much like matches
Unlit and unscratched against a stone, so that
One is left to wonder when the doughty dresses
Of the women were shed, and for whom, and what
Words of fire were needed to divest them after
The photographer left and all the linen was
Put away on the shelves inside the house
The men all wear hats, tilted so in some rakish way
And cigarettes dangle from their hips like just-shot Colts
Before they are placed back in their holsters to rest
And on their faces, forced smiles sprout like weeds
All of them practiced, like lines in the high school play
That ages hence, all pondered over as they turned
The fringed pages in the albums slowly, with a sigh
I am dressed in cotton there, with little legs and toes like buttons,
Squirming even in this frozen state, animated to the
Point where my mother, in her broad brimmed bonnet,
Is not looking at the lens, but at me, and I am poised
To believe she loves me more than the man who
Stands stiffly by her side, already dying, perhaps
Already dead, and our lives about to crumble away
But as I learned, the Kodaks never write an epilogue 05/22/2008 Posted on 05/22/2008
Copyright © 2024 Ken Harnisch
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Melissa Arel on 05/24/08 at 10:27 PM this was my favorite part: "my mother, in her broad brimmed bonnet,/Is not looking at the lens, but at me,and I am poised/
To believe she loves me more than the man who/
Stands stiffly by her side"
as a mother who has such a loving son myself, i can honestly tell you that you believed correctly :) theres just something about a little boy & his momma. its simply nothing short of perfect, true love ♥ a great poem through & through.. it really brings you back to the old days that you see in movies :) you created an amazingly detailed write that played out like i was there myself! well done! |
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