I shook off the New Mexico desert dust
only to be defiled the soft flurry of
Quebec’s October snowfall.
It had been several months since I’d been back home.
I had traveled much of the gulf coast to escape the old man,
only to bury him upon my return.
Pop’s heart had given out.
I was surprised, as I’d never thought he had one.
Jenny and mom were upset, but I remember them crying
most nights he came home drunk.
We always remember people better than they were.
That first night, after the wake, my mother took out
the photo album and started reminiscing about all the happy times
we’d spent together.
My memory wasn’t that long, and I’d never been able to lie to myself.
When my head hit the pillow that night, long-forgotten memories
played in my mind like the grainy black and white images
of a home movie.
Ice fishing with Pop and uncle Dan on Walloper Lake; family camping
trips to Algonquin Provincial Park; whale watching on the waters
of Bay Bulls, where I saw my father cry for the first time.
But they were just the tricks of the mind that keep you up nights.
Renegade thoughts that fire off like firecrackers in trashcans.
Ryan Fiennes
Though primarily a writer of fiction, Ryan Fiennes' poetry has been featured in Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku, published by Literary Revelations Press, which is currently Amazon's number 1 top release in Poetry Anthology.