Thomas Zimmerman

A Visit Home

The bare trees: needles pricking sky. The sun:
a silent uncle drunk as usual.
Let gossip spread its heady pollen, one
of many crosses people bear in full-
blown sight of others in a Catholic town
in spring. Like some, the wife has got a mum
alive and dying: ninety-one, and down
to hell she fears she'll go, chained tight and dumb.
Her son-in-law’s a weirdo who descends 
to nether circles, searching for a piece
of mind, of ass, of anything that bends
to fill the gap, gum up the works, release
his puzzled demons. There he sits. Observe 
his grimace. Poets get what they deserve.

Thomas Zimmerman (he/him) teaches English, directs the Writing Center, and edits The Big Windows Review https://thebigwindowsreview.com/ at Washtenaw Community College, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His poems have appeared recently in Haven Speculative, Sledgehammer, and Spellbinder. His website is https:/thomaszimmerman.wordpress.com.