Monthly Poem

 This site will feature a different poem by Andrew Forster every month.

This month here's the title poem from the new collection Homecoming.

Homecoming

One side of Dad’s face has fallen

but his smile fights for purchase and just wins.

The effort to lift his hand in greeting

is almost visible, like static,

but fingers remain fixed on the sheet.

He’s his own ventriloquist,

lips not moving as he speaks.

I lean in and a shadow dims his eyes.

I’m shut out while he watches

the private film his mind is running.

My brother drives me back to the station,

past the sites of demolished factories,

places where Dad found and lost himself.

The sky above us is cobalt blue but

I know I’ll remember it washed out.

When I finally arrive in Grange-over-Sands,

the air off the bay is cool and liquid.

Just beyond the lights Amanda stands,

with Walter the dachshund, his yips

of greeting rising over the departing engine.