Photo Of An Ancestor (a poem)

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Photo Of An Ancestor

He died long before
you first kicked
& breathed the sour
air that spilled
from the Cargill plant
and still hangs stagnant
above these streets.
The yellow decay of time
has not colored the creases
that ate at his face
like a corrosive,
eyes flushed with pain
& joy that the years
had rubbed together
like sticks. Eyes
that now pierce
you with light,
like the sliver
of moonlight
inching across the floor
deliberately seeking you out.


(from the chapbook STUNNED BY THE MOMENT, 1990 - also published in Wind Magazine)

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