.
this new page is here
as morning’s here
as you’re here
.
this new page
not a mark upon it
is virgin territory
pristine as Pleistocene snow,
but the previous page below
is indecipherable,
bleeds through a new sheet
as a ghost mimes through the white of nothing
as this day’s blank uncertainty
sees the shadowlines of was,
absolute. now that it’s done
the leaf written the day before
is still unclear
… ahead
those pages slip beneath my thumb
mute as the voice of dad from the dead,
become vapor, curl around his nose,
behind glasses they orchestrate his
nicotine squint
smoke from a burning body,
his pre-pyre
fades
fails
unfalls
disappears in shadow
beyond his head
the good news is
this new leaf
is here
Jim Culleny
1/30/15
