Don Kloss

THE NEIGHBOR


She is closed up in that house,
alone every day.
The sons long since moved
away, out of home, out of state-
there are seldom visitors.

She goes to church on Sunday mornings
and sits alone in the back pew,
stiff body against rigid wood:
No one joins her there.
The years have beat upon her
like rain on a grave stone
and her disposition has gnarled-
a thorny, overgrown weed
beside it.

Cloistered like a nun in there
every day
with dusty trophies and awards,
brittle scrap books
overflowing with yellowing photos.

Sometimes she goes to his closet,
opens the door of that shrine,
and holds a sport coat or cardigan
against her face,
rubbing the material on her cheeks;
inhaling, desperately trying
to remember how he smelled-
not the hospital, disinfectant,
rotting slowly from the inside smell,
but the natural scent of his clean skin.

She sleeps with the lights on,
I’ve noticed; the television flaring
blue light behind the shades.
Perhaps she is falling back
into childhood as so many do-
once again afraid to be alone
in the dark.

She is locked behind that door,
alone every day and night with her
holy cards and rosary,
wondering if this is was the goal,
and how long yet?



Leaches


The question is how to remain in the light
when the head is like an empty boat,
when anger tears at the ribcage
from the inside out like razor claws,
when loneliness is bolstered
by exclusion.

The question is how to face the day
from behind this putty mask
without putting blade to vein,
or fist to wall over something
that isn’t worth the effort of temper.

The question is how to move forward
feeling lost in the present
and longing for the long past days,
knowing that today is the yesterday
of tomorrow, and tomorrow is the beginning
of the past.

Putting these things down with pen,
I feel nothing as the paper leaches the ink
the way that this life sometimes leaches me.


Don Kloss is a poet from Burlington, New Jersey, and a member of the Quick And Dirty Poets. His favorite authors at the moment are Yusef Komanyakaa, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath and Charles Bukowski. When not writing, he is involved in song writing, gardening, fishing, canoeing, and hanging out with his dogs, Cortez and Bosco.

 Current Issue:
October 2007

Melinda Blount
Frank DeCanio
Bobbi Dykema
Taylor Graham
John Grey
Don Kloss
Alicia Matheny
Pam Pignataro
Jeremy Rich
Bill Roberts
Bethany Rountree
Tom Sheehan
Kelsey Upward

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