Thomas Brush
An Ossuary
Nothing greets me
At the door. No one
Walks toward me. Not even the rain.
There is no sound. Only the sunburnt
Grass rising from my childhood. That leaves
Without a trace.
There are no more surprises. The shadow
Of someone’s hand crosses the wall
Above my bed. Night after night.
Until I’m left with what’s needed.
An ossuary. A closed book.
A yearning.
A rehearsal
For forever.
Thomas Brush is the author, most recently, of God’s Laughter (2018), Open Heart (2015) and Last Night (2012, winner of the Blue Lynx Prize). all from Lynx House Press. His poems have appeared in Fine Madness, Indiana Review, Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Quarterly West, Tar River Poetry Review, and many other journals and anthologies. He lives in Seattle, Wash.
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