Loss
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At Night, the Sea
At night, the sea closes in… Continue reading
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The Tree of Undoing
Adam discovered another tree… Continue reading
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Three Dresser Drawers
She may take only what fits in three dresser drawers. Continue reading
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Vigil II
We hear the train rumble into the stationas we stand around the bedthat cradles the 90-year-old-womanwhom we call wife, mother, sister, friend. The wailing of the whistlesignals the train has stopped.We glance at one another:Is this an arrival or a… Continue reading
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Vigil I
There isn't a discrete momentwhen you say, with certainty,"There, that was death." Instead, there's the dawning realizationthat the next breath hasn't come,that at some point,somewhere in the last minute or two or three,something that had been there for decades,snuck past… Continue reading
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Stopped Dead
Stopped dead between headstones,dry leaves drifting over my shoes,I scan, rescan the engraved letters.This century-old epitaph could be mine. I feel like Scrooge sighting along the bony fingerof his future ghost. Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All… Continue reading
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My Face
My face,empty at the table like a white china plate,waits for supper.From the kitchen,silence. Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading
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Job-Loss, Death, Etc.
From time to timethe vehicle of your life–the one you're driving even as you read this–disappears from the busy streets you navigate dailyand reappears on some empty, unknown, rural road. What landscape is this?Signs point to places you do not… Continue reading
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Temple
Imagine a temple dedicted to what we do not know, to what is beyond imagination, to the vastness beyond vastness (what you may call God). I would expect silence, because that is how I experience awe. The walls would be… Continue reading