Mark A Fisher
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passage
this new dog and I wander the sandy path behind the house his nose to the ground as I look across the weedy landscape and feel the ghost of the dog that came before remembering what he could not with his dementia all the times we had walked that same timeworn ground before while the new dog recently adopted ‘cause he lost his people to dementia too now he and I walk a changed landscape the ghostlight stands on the stage lighting the way for his entrance to an ovation from the wings and all the players that arrived before he turns and faces out then takes his bows to an audience that has been waiting to give him their applause while the band returns to the stage echoes of concerts whispering in the dark as they play him to his rest and the magic of the dream settles in to glow in the ghostlight Elegy at the Natural History Museum it is a chamber filled with death and wonder and the bones of the mighty fallen mute remains we will never hear sing whose voices filled the ancient skies lost now in eons past now mere silent exhibits surrounded by the voices of children that rush from giant to giant gazing in a mystic wonder incapable of grasping the vast time separating them from these monsters turned cuddly in gift shop displays whose sale supports the secret science that lurks behind the awe while one old man with aching bones looks on wishing that he too could reach generations in some distant future like this T-Rex stood before him roped off on display wordlessly lighting sparks of passion like flint on steel in these young minds who still have time while the old man ponders the emptiness of the future knowing time has passed him by and all too soon he will be a poorly remembered memory told to another child as he follows his grandchild into the next room filled with even more wonders |
Mark A. Fisher is a writer, poet, and playwright living in Tehachapi, CA. His poetry has appeared in: Reliquiae, Young Ravens Literary Review, and many other places. His first chapbook, drifter, is available from Amazon. His poem “there are fossils” (originally published in Silver Blade) came in second in the 2020 Dwarf Stars Speculative Poetry Competition. His plays have appeared on California stages in Pine Mountain Club, Tehachapi, Bakersfield, and Hayward. His play “Moon Rabbit” won Audience Favorite at the Stillwater Oklahoma Short Play Festival in 2023. He has also won cooking ribbons at the Kern County Fair.