Wednesday 3 June 2009

Fragile by Mather Schneider

The woman takes down the pictures of her family
and tucks them in a box.
They all look shocked
staring through their little windows
stiff as the sweater people
in the Sears newspaper insert
lining the bottom.

She crumples up
the headlines, stuffs them between
their sharp-elbowed frames
and wraps the whole thing
thoroughly as a headwound.

She tries to protect them
with the magic wand
of her black marker
but she knows too well the way

things shift, and crack;
and the way water always seeps in
like amnesia.


Mather Schneider, Arizona, USA

3 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

Mather is a 39 year old cab driver living with a Mexican girl in Tucson. No awards, college degrees, children or pets. His work has appeared in the small press since 1996.

Unknown said...

...and the way water always seeps in like amnesia...
what a lovely image.

poefusion said...

Through your poem, I am reminded of how I put my own pictures away in the attic some years ago. And, that last line seals the poem nicely. Well done. Have a nice day.