Lines at the End of the Year

by Stuart Dischell (Greensboro, USA)

EDITORS’ NOTE:This poem was originally published in Stuart Dischell’s 2022 book, The Lookout Man, and is reprinted courtesy of the University of Chicago Press. Listen to Stuart talk about the book on the PICT podcast, Bookaholics #15: The Lookout Man.

No pet ever liked to see me pack—
No child for that matter either.

When my parents went out, I feared
They would never come back

From holidays taken without me.
Now they will never come back.

I have not seen a robin that does not like
To drink from a puddle in December

And splash and clean under its wings
When it thinks no one is looking.

Never knew. Never thought. Always said.
I am the Narcissus of the draining sink.

When my door slams, each leaf in the yard looks back.
Where did I go in such a hurry?