LETTERS TO THE DEAD: TWENTY – FOUR

6/24/2018
after Mark Morgan (1950 – 2017)

SO FAR, SO CLOSE

I can see you my friend

Out of the blue
your life reveals itself
in your pencil sketch
the graded shades of gray
without the slightless demonstration
turn into a 3-D of you

Then I hold your paintings to the light
in all their bold relief
   of tree bluff and bridgescape
   of a spit of outcrop
              where sandstone comes clean
   of the forested palisade
              which arrows through
              Valley View like Styx-men’s blood
and I’m two strides
behind you
waiting for the mermaid
   to come across on the ferry

It’s not just the sight of you
but the sound that shows 
your voice in the vibrant lines
above the ridge of Silver Creek
   seek
you say…and
   go no further
   not a step