Farewell by Linda Stryker

Farewell, by Philip C. Curtis, 1961.

Farewell, Farewell

shouts ring out
            from inside the caboose
unseen children calling
            she wants to go with them
but wait one more moment she says
            waves spiritedly
golden hair tousled by a sweet breeze
            farewell     farewell
family dear     tethered in time
           riveted in space
various angles of lean
           returning reflected waves
the physics of love
           farewell     farewell

anonymous sky
           bleak land
bright & dark    orange & blue
            confusing the eye
old gnarled oak tree
            anchors the panel
keeps the instant
            of illusion alive
is there a future
           when comes a fall
does the family awaken
           unlock themselves
from frozen angles
           give their thin arms respite
trudge back home

flat painting pretending
           to be three-dimensional
a sham insert
           makes loss less painful
what is reality the philosopher asks

at the subatomic level
           the substance of the material world
falls away      like a panel
           crashing in the forest
leaving only grief to hear

Linda Stryker

Linda Stryker lives in Phoenix, but sometimes in her head; her cat and piano are in there, too.   She is a poet, teacher, radio reader, and tennis player. Her work has been appeared in several journals and anthologies including New Millennium Writings, Highlights for Children,  ditch poetry, and The Speculative Edge, among others.