Poem a day for 29 April 2015: possession

Ghostly Ivories. Photo by Robert Rath from Robert's website.

And today's poem, penultimate for the month: three spooky little quatrains for you. This poem poses more questions than it offers answers: who or what is possessing whom? or what? and who or what is haunting this poem?

The fourth line insisted on being there even though it seems out of place. The line 'little stitches join this world with the other' is from The Celtic Twilight, a collection of Irish folklore compiled by W B Yeats.


possession

coins that jingle in a dead man's pockets
place them face-up on his still-warm eyes
we think we're alive but are the dead really dead
feet that bleed on slippy prison tiles

who removed the roses I'd placed on the table
scattering petals all over the floor
why was the kettle hot, when I'd been away
who moaned 'always' as I sat here, alone

little stitches join this world with the other
little boy recounts a life already lived
unexpected shadows cast a sudden glamour
what we had hoped for cannot be disbelieved

Posted by Jennifer Liston