He killed ants on the hot bricks
one endless summer
little pieces of them
crushed and stretched
cooked under the sun
still twitching
and their smell
like spicy honey
was all over his hands
and the boy who did this
I don’t remember him
His DeSoto Deluxe
squeaked and rattled
going down that dirt road
on the way to get her
and he joked to her mother
that the car was as old as him
yet both loaded with charm
never sharing with her
how the windows always fogged up
at the drive-ins at night
just him and her daughter
with each other alone
climbing peaks unseen
dreams cascading like an avalanche
this young man
I don’t remember him
Technology advances one orphan at a time
so he said during Vietnam
with those government contracts
that kept his factories running overtime
to equip young men with killing tools
hot steel cut through jungle scrub
and the flesh and bone
of a people who toiled
against the sun and mud
watching their children’s bellies swell
a slow death under steel and fire
but his own love
taken so suddenly
his son born an angel
so fresh and greyish plump
that he could almost have been alive
if only he wished it hard enough
and that man who kissed his cold baby
for the first time
I don’t remember him
The world changed one day
became a carousel he couldn’t ride
a noisy blaring colour clash
left alone with dreams
of some place else
his angel waiting
on a tree branch strong and green
and he just as fixed
could see him waving
from far away
and this man that envisioned
blue sky against grey
I don’t remember him
Just a shell now
that spark inside
became root-bound
smouldered
that last thin wisp
it disappeared
and empty eyes
they stare through these people
who make no sense when they talk
if just one could say that smell
something about a smell
a spicy smell
and ants
there was something about them
but I don’t remember
me
This was written in response to this weeks Writer’s Island Challenge – the word prompt was ‘Envision’.
Ground to Ground 
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