Derelict
Terry Peavy, Maureen Brown, Eric Doscher,
I might have known them – ordinary anyones
among the forty unclaimed, buried by a street crew
diverted from laying sewer pipe.
People lost somewhere in the frozen valley of despair,
the drugged stupor of escape.
Was it shame pride fear that kept them
from returning to the cozy bungalow, the doting parents?
Was it desperation that drove others
from a car seat home in a park called hunger?
Each has a different story – yet all end the same way
in this barren ground, the sound of shovels.
Sharon Scholl is a retired, and ancient, college teacher who convenes a poetry critique group and maintains a website of original music (freeprintmusic.com) donated to small, liberal churches. Her poetry chapbooks, Seasons, Remains, Evensong, are available via Amazon Books. Her poems are current in The Bluebird Word and Red Rose, Thorns.
