My tenth poem for National Poetry Writing Month uses the prompt from Napowrimo.net—to write ‘a poem that is a portrait of someone important to you.’ This is perhaps a bit rougher than I would like, but it has been almost 25 years…

Outlines and shadows

detail reduced to impressions
feelings

You are the warmth of a smile
on a humid summer night

You are the sly, teasing question
in an upward inflection of voice

You are riding away on a bicycle
on a rainy Tuesday afternoon

You are the letters
that allowed your true feelings to emerge

the twists and turns
that stopped them from coming

and the occasional package
that revealed you were still thinking of me

You are the anniversary
I still mark 25 years later

I am the tragic figure
whose memories are made

of outlines and shadows

You don’t look a day older
than the last time I saw you

(9 April 2017—posted April 10th ET)