Covid Gestalt
Here, where the room lives:
its walls lined with memories
and books;
chairs changed by occupancies:
arms worn;
legs chapped;
backs bent to the comfort of those moved on,
gone to live in other rooms,
gloom speaks to upholstery.
Misery talks back.
Here, where the room lives,
a freeze framed archived symmetry
now looks
sadly over what has been,
and lost,
and lacked.
Silently, cacophony calls back.
Voiceless, unsound memory
retraces life’s tracks.
Here, where the room lives,
unseated of company
I move from chair to chair
replaying the commentaries
of those who were once there
arguing their point of view,
moved by cushions shaped,
engraved,
bequeathed speech,
and left
to the bereft.
Cherry Coombe 