Terence Culleton
There in a breakfast nook
an old man peruses the paper.
His wife peruses a book
there in a breakfast nook.
The header: CAUGHT IN A CAPER!
The kettle discharges its vapor,
as, there in a breakfast nook,
an old man peruses the paper.
He’s humming and holding his breath—
he’s not really reading, he’s thinking.
He’s thinking about his own death,
humming and holding his breath.
His wife was up late last night drinking.
She’s trembling now—sniffling, and blinking.
He’s humming and holding his breath.
He’s not really reading, he’s thinking.
Perhaps something sudden—a stroke?
Or maybe a species of cancer.
Been mulling it since he awoke:
Sudden—yes—like a stroke.
He looks up as if for an answer.
Her book is: THE BOLD NECROMANCER.
Something sudden—a stroke?
Or maybe a species of cancer.
BOLD NECROMANCER is dying.
Wife turns the page jitterly.
It’s not really clear if she’s crying
for BOLD NECROMANCER, who’s dying,
or herself.—She sniffs bitterly
in the nook: she must take her leave
of BOLD NECROMANCER, who’s dying.
She turns the page, jitterly.
Meanwhile the kettle is screaming.
She’s deaf to it—also is he.
The window is sweating, it’s streaming.
The kettle continues its screaming
as uncomprehendingly
they sit and forget about tea.
The kettle continues its screaming.
She’s deaf to it, also is he.
Terence Culleton has published three collections of formally crafted narrative and lyric poems, A Communion of Saints (2011) and Eternal Life (2015), both with Anaphora Literary Press, and a collection of fifty-four English sonnets, A Tree and Gone, just out through Future Cycle Press. A Tree and Gone is available at https://amzn.to/3qDrRqN or through his website, terenceculletonpoetry.com, where you can also purchase his other books, read his blogs on poetry, and keep up with his breathlessly exciting life as a writer.