Grievance
The house round the corner wasn’t noticed
until it burned down. Who lived there
no one knew we knew. Trees now leer,
exposed roots over a bulldozed pit.
Who knows what’s next when what’s left
of what was reminds one of what wasn’t
seen when it was. And so cars fly by
with the lives they scurry off with,
the friend who never returned the call
promised two years ago, the sibling
certain of conspiracy construed
out of rumor and half heard remarks.
Grief turning grieving into grievance
hardens into grudge. Trees stare
into an open pit. Years fly by.
Night thickens into a silence
only the dead get to hear.
.
Anthony DiMatteo‘s recent poems have sprouted in The American Journal of Poetry, Cimarron Review, Connecticut River Review, Ekphrastic Review and North Dakota Quarterly. His current book of poems In Defense of Puppets has been hailed as, ‘a rare collection, establishing a stunningly new poetic and challenging the traditions that DiMatteo (as Renaissance scholar) claims give the poet ‘the last word” (Cider Press Review). A chapbook Fishing for Family is out from Kelsay Books.
Stone Poetry Quarterly 