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      January 27, 2022Nick BertelsonThe Widower

      Image: “Nature People #8” by Bruce McClain. “The Widower” was written by Nick Bertelson for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, December 2021, and selected as the Editor’s Choice. (PDF / JPG)
      Leaves like grief
      skulk through shadows.
      Slubs of them swell
      and stew, ground
      to dust by dust,
      death’s currency.
      I watch him
      —my hangdog neighbor—
      coax them into piles.
      He wields his
      nightmarish rake,
      eventually setting
      the dead leaves alight.
      Burning for a cold
      moment, they whisper
      and cackle as they did
      when the wind
      blew through
      the boughs
      they’ve now abandoned.
      Truth is:
      I have no neighbors
      and I live a long ways
      from everywhere.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge
      December 2021, Editor’s Choice

      __________

      Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “In contrast to its surreality, the most striking feature of Bruce’s drawing are, to me, the eyes. I’m convinced this poem has told their story.”

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the editor, Timothy Green

      “In contrast to its surreality, the most striking feature of Bruce’s drawing are, to me, the eyes. I’m convinced this poem has told their story.”