DEAR ST. CHRISTOPHER

By kerry rawlinson

 

protect us on this journey.
Terminal velocity’s an
epidemic, ending
everything.
The kids and grandpa
                                  and me, we hide in the basement of my
                                  heart, creating a new reality with mac'n
                                  cheese, Raffi songs, chips and dip, a
                                  make-shift pirate ship or a fort or a sky-
                                  piercing turret of chairs and sheets; and a
                                  family version of Whist which no expert
                                  would condone. Grandpa giggles when
                                  he cheats. The kids jump and clamber and
fall fast-
                                  asleep on his chest,
way past
                                  bedtime, out of
breath.
                                  Dear St. Christopher, we always keep the porch-light on.
Nobody
                                  should be alone. Make sure, dear Saint, that everyone
comes home.

[Author’s notes:

1.              If read down the left column only, the poem tells this story: A family in Vaughn, Ontario, is grieving after three children and their grandfather were killed by a suspected drunk-driving crash. September 14, 2015,  CTV News.

2.              In 2013, 10,076 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. Of the 1,149 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2013, 200 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver. Dept. of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts 2013.]

 

Decades ago, kerry rawlinson gravitated from sunny Zambian skies to solid Canadian soil as an Architectural Technologist. Lately able to return to her muses, she won Postcards, Poems & Prose's “drawkcaB” Contest; and was a finalist in Ascent Aspirations; Mississippi Valley, and Malahat Review Open Season Contests. Poems (some w. art) accepted by, amongst others: Midwest Quarterly; ditchpoetry; Lantern Journal; 3Elements Review; Unshod Quills; War, Literature & the Arts; Main Street Rag; Codex. Photo-artwork in: Qwerty; Wax Poetry & Art; Centrifugal Eye; Adirondack Review & AColorProject; Five on the Fifth.

© 2017