“Forgotten Man” by Ann Christine Tabaka

Dust motes dance on sunlight

streaming through a dingy window.

Rusty mailbox, empty, always empty.

Cadaverous cobwebs mocking

back at him from a peeling wall.

He sits alone in his room, sifting

through dim memories of a once

vibrant life. His wife is gone, adult

children too busy to visit, friends

moved far away. Yet in his hands,

he holds proof, that his life was once

real. Photos and newspaper clippings

fill his world. Universities, Naval ships,

careers and family, all a distant past.

He hungers now, not for food, but for

human touch. As memories fade, so

does he. Closing his eyes, he drifts

off into that other world.  As the mail

truck drives by, not stopping, and dust

motes continue their last ballet.

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Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry, has been internationally published, and won poetry awards from numerous publications. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking. Chris lives with her husband and two cats. Her most recent credits are: Ethos Literary Journal, North of Oxford, Pomona Valley Review, Page & Spine, West Texas Literary Review, The Hungry Chimera, Sheila-Na-Gig, Synchronized Chaos, Pangolin Review, Foliate Oak Review, Better Than Starbucks!, The Write Launch, The Stray Branch, The McKinley Review, Fourth & Sycamore. *(a complete list of publications is available upon request)

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