Your Slanted Chalkboard Writing Tells The Tale Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

your slanted chalkboard writing tells the tale

or mirrorback, the night has lost its stars!

so children have to wander very far



from where they started from.

I strike the drum or listen for the chime

that God and I know floats as only mine



upon a wind as crystal as it's clear

your shadow's growing brighter

year to year when measured



on a birthday yardstick morning.

stop. the music's decrescendo here

and let the river Poetry go on



beyond the hills that stared at you so long

in every single place you ever knew

so that you loved the colour blue heedlessly,



until it wasn't there at all.



mary angela douglas 30 july 2019