Empty

This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for May 2025 and was ultimately not selected. You can find more information here.

https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

Empty

You kept it in the old horse barn

A 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396

In beautiful midnight blue

Back in our younger days

We drove it down to St. Augustine

To let the sea sing us a love song

Out to Grand Teton

To sleep under stars

It was your baby

After me of course

You kept your priorities straight

Loved taking it out for a spin

After church on Sundays

Then, the week before last

You took it out for one last ride

Before the snows came

-

And you wrapped it around a tree

-

I placed a wooden cross and flowers

But you aren’t there

You are up on the mantle

Above the fireplace

Your urn is full and heavy

It’s the only thing that’s full in this house

Except for the freezer

The ladies from church filled it

With casseroles

I have four styles of funeral potatoes

But no appetite to eat

-

Now winter is rolling down from the north

Like storms across the prairie in summer

Sweeping through the vacant barn

Door swinging in the wind

I pace a silent house

You are no longer here

Playing your Elvis records

My heart cleaved in two

I am forlorn

For I have nothing left

To fill this life with

Your passing has left everything

Empty

Submitted under MRB