Creative Writing - Sample Poems

The Soldier

patrols your house in moonlight,
his shadow on your couch.
When was your house bombed?
It doesn’t bother him
and neither does the darkness.
His General said,
You’re at one with darkness.
He has no reason to doubt this,
no reason to be anything
but a solider walking.

Beneath his feet your house creaks
and you wonder, will he open fire
on empty chairs? Your wounds
from love and hate and years
say Yes, Yes, Yes, and then,
as if confirmation were required,
his rifle butt thumps your floorboards.

Behind the one locked door,
secure upon a wall, hangs the photo
of the house before the bombs.
You know that soon he’ll shoot the door,
kick it till his soles are bruised.
It won’t open, but he’ll walk away
convinced he’ll break it down tomorrow.

*forthcoming Quadrant, and my new poetry collection in 2007