Mike Dillon
Mike Dillon lives in Indianola, Washington, a small town on Puget Sound northwest of Seattle. Departures, a book of poetry and prose about the forced removal of Bainbridge Island’s Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor will be published in April 2019 by Unsolicited Press.
Journey
An open door framed a sunlit field
and a blue pond where a saintly burrow
drowsed beside its saintly reflection.
A bantam boy with rheumy eyes
deposited coarse bread in a basket.
A shadowy, empty room, except for me.
From the kitchen: a clatter of plates,
a man and wife’s soft speech beyond
the wall of my own language.
And garlic scent. Something frying.
The boy returned with a mug of beer
to match the golden afternoon.
A rooster crowed. An icon of Mary,
red, black and gold, cast its basilisk stare
from a cracked plaster wall.
A fly tapped the window beside the door.
The boy’s spread palm quickly mashed it.
He olive eyes darted my way for a approval.
.
Meal finished, I shook man and wife’s hands.
My compliments were true. I patted the boy
and went on my way out the door
with worn backpack and I patted the burrow
as if we both knew there was no such
thing as final destination.
© 2018 Mike Dillon
