Thank you, David Jordan, for selecting “Tartan Lament” for inclusion in the June 2020 (#10) issue of Crossways Literary Magazine (Cork, Ireland).
Tartan Lament
Your grandmother’s armchair
cloaked in wine tartan
sits dappled in sunshine.
The cactus you bestowed years ago
blossoms its paper-thin petals
fragile as a grieving heart
its prickly spines set to pierce
unwary fingers warding off
touch as I twist a golden band
conjure embraces
your laughter kissing my ears
as we sway to a Coltrane tune.
Curled in the chair’s embrace
another mid-May day settles
with its abundance of lilac
blossoms like those draping
the mantle behind us
as you gifted
your tartan name.
I’d love to learn your thoughts about this poem, the way it addresses the theme and the way it closes. Please leave a note…and share. Thanks.
Kathryn MacDonald 