Fragments of Calendars
by John Swain
John Swain

John Swain lives in Louisville, Kentucky. His chapbook, Prominences, appeared from Flutter Press and his ebook, The Feathered Masks, appeared from Full of Crow.

The abandoned chapel collapses
in a puddle of stained glass windows,
the black spiral stairs lead
upward to sky like a bell jar.
I bury your dress in a pile of stones
where the acacia tree shades,
light passes through intricate lace
over the missing.
These uncertain hours crumble
like maggots in a leather book spine.
I filled the pond with earth
and pulled splinters,
then checked the fragments of calendars
for an auspicious time for planting.
Now I can see until blue evening,
nightjars sound from the branches,
my brothers had fled before morning.

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