At the Funeral
By Arthur Ginsberg
nothing keener than the widow’s grief
when the veteran with a lick-spittled twist
of his handle-bar mustache that flickers
like a muskrat’s whiskers,
presents the flag: red for heroism;
white, purity; blue, glory,
folded like an omelet into her hands.
when the veteran with a lick-spittled twist
of his handle-bar mustache that flickers
like a muskrat’s whiskers,
presents the flag: red for heroism;
white, purity; blue, glory,
folded like an omelet into her hands.
Taps unspools from a coronet
across the dormant orchard,
blunting the chaplain’s lies
about saintliness and unswerving faith for the man
reduced to ashes in an urn
tarnished like a trophy at the widow’s feet.
Back home the dog whines
in the man’s empty chair, men
with grog blossoms on their noses
raise another glass of poteen
while the dead invite relatives
into yellowed scrapbooks
with say cheese smiles.
From that heaven beyond the pages,
they forgive the questions
that have no answers.
Time has rearranged the silver emulsion
of passing and given them repose
in the cradle of our eyes.
Arthur Ginsberg is a neurologist and poet based in Seattle. He has studied poetry at the University of Washington and at Squaw Valley, with Galway Kinnell, Sharon Olds, and Lucille Clifton. His work has appeared in two anthologies from the University of Iowa Press: Blood and Bone and also Primary Care. He was awarded the William Stafford prize in 2003. He earned an MFA degree in creative writing in 2010 from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. He studied with Dorianne Laux, Marvin Bell and David St. John. He has published two books: Brain Works (David Roberts Books, 2019) and The Anatomist (WorldTech Communications, 2016). He currently teaches a course, titled, “Brain and the Healing Power of Poetry” at the University of Washington.