Picture Postcard
Sifting through a plastic tote
hunting for a photo I wanted
to share with a friend,
I found a postcard
my father had sent to his mother.
A scene from the western US.
No writing, just his initial: “E.”
Cold. Especially to his mother.
Why have I kept it all these years?
Do I really need a reminder
of how he treated us,
his family?
6 thoughts on "Picture Postcard"
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This certainly didn’t end how I expected, but I appreciate the surprising weight of your poem. Thank you for sharing!
Dennis – the turn was a surprise to me as well. I like that the title gives us the true “picture” of the reality. Nicely done.
Thank you both for the nice comments!
This is powerful stuff–that last lube is so good, is like an artifact you want to turn over and study in your hand
Thank you!
What a poem. Picture postcard indeed. Too many of us have families like this one.