Before the haulers arrived,
we sat for the last time
on its shabby cushions —
tentative now, on opposite ends,
like strangers at a depot,
awaiting a bus. Agleam,
it had stood out once,
set down among thrift store
purchases, along the beige walls,
on the ancient wool carpet —
immense on its floral seas.
And in so many photos a backdrop,
a hub: Christmases, birthdays,
strewn with wrapping;
in the frivolity of company
with beer and chips;
through late movies, long innings,
a place of respite, a place of comfort —
a bed for our dying cat.
When turned on its side
by a pair of young guys
in backwards caps, it left us
crumbs, a rainfall of change,
the stub of a pencil, an empty space.
Joseph Chelius, a 30-year resident of Fairless Hills, was the 2000 Bucks County poet laureate, and in 2017 was the first place winner of the inaugural Bucks County Short Story competition. He has published two full-length collections of poems with WordTech editions: The Art of Acquiescence (2014) and Crossing State Lines (2020).
Poet’s Corner is curated by Bucks County Poet Laureate Tom Mallouk and supported by a grant to the Bucks County Herald Foundation made possible by Marv and Dee Ann Woodall.
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