Sunday, July 24, 2016

The Sunday Poet: Susan Tepper

Susan Tepper


Susan Tepper is the author of six published books of fiction and poetry. She lives in the NY area with her husband and her dog Otis.  She has been a writer for twenty years. www.susantepper.com


 
AFTER/DURING for Chris Nguyen

In a pleasant corner of the garden
we sip tea and crunch biscuits

Each telling what we remember
about that war

You what you remember
After— when
our country conceded
to that split country: North & South
leaving it in ruin

Once divided as we are now
but only by a garden wall
shared and tended,
slathered in honeysuckle,
primrose, vine.

I didn’t see that country
when you saw it
after—
Not nearly one percent
of what you saw.

I saw it during the
loading of soldiers and
the half dead onto planes
then from the air where
everything’s small and
smudged like in a painting

While what you saw were
beginnings of a level plane
on which to finally land.

 


  

No comments:

Post a Comment