44839: Poetry From a Zip Code (part two)

As April is National Poetry Month, our small city planned on celebrating with a poetry event this evening. It was to be the launch of the third annual poetry anthology that arose through the city’s Poet Laureate program. The winners of the poetry contest were to be announced, too. Unfortunately, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the library has been closed for several weeks and social distancing is the new normal, but there is a way to hear some of the many poems written by the citizens who live and/or work in the 44839 zip code. Rob Smith of Drinian Press, LLC has recorded poems by the various poets. To listen to them, check out http://www.smithwrite.net/44839.

Here is another of the poems that this pedometer geek had chosen for the anthology.

We Buried Our Friend Today

Although the funeral was a week ago,

We buried our friend today.

The sun decided to shine, and

flags snapped in the wind

in a salute to the Marine.

 

After the benediction,

there was quiet,

the family saying their last goodbye

to the man they all loved.

 

So I stood,

in the meditative silence,

watching red rose petals like tears drop

one by one onto the casket.

 

One minute, two minutes,

and more passed.

No one in a rush to leave,

or speak.

As the flags continued to snap

in the breeze.

~Nancy Brady

Hopefully, there will be an event later on in the year so that all the poets and their friends and family can come and hear the poems by the poets themselves, but until then, there is the website, http://www.smithwrite.net/44839, to listen to Rob’s reading of the poets’ works.