That’s Not Her Gravestone

by Paul Tristram / November 26th, 2017

…and yet she’s at ‘It’ every day,
pulling weeds and shedding tears.
Homeless, begs outside the entrance
of the main post office.
Only been in town a few months,
God only knows,
where she’s originally from?
Has a slight Northern accent,
and doesn’t look quite so old
when you get up close.
I spoke to her, one sunny day,
a couple of weeks ago,
drinking water from the flower vase tap.
Said her name was ‘Mary’
and that she felt sorry for the Grave
because it was the only one
that no one ever came to visit.
Nuts? Maybe, who knows…
harmless enough is all that matters.
She’s obviously lost and lonely…
and to my mind, I think…
that little Concrete Cross
has become a physical marker
for her very own sorrow and grief.

Paul Tristram is a widely published Welsh writer who deals in the Lowlife, Outsider, and Outlaw genres.  He wrote his first poem as a teenager following his release from the (Infamous) Borstal ‘HMP Portland’, and he has been creating Literary Terrorism ever since.  His novel ‘Crazy Like Emotion’ is available to purchase right here . Also his collection of shorter fiction Kicking Back Drunk ‘Round The Candletree Graves' is available to purchase at https://bookgoodies.com/a/B0DFMTSR4F Both books are published by Close To The Bone Publishing. Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, November 26th, 2017 at 8:04am and is filed under Poetry.