Music filled my father’s house
From violin, guitar and mandolin
Instruments of second-hand parts
Repaired with tender care
By my father’s and granddad’s hands
Melodies flowed from the radio
And precious record discs
To fill the big front room
Where the polished floor
Rang in the counterpoint
Of tap and soft shoe
As my father danced
The rhythms of poetry
Rolled around the rooms
As my father recited from memory
The words of his favorites
The lilt of laughter
And the cello chords of voices
Blended into music, too
Yes, sweet music filled
My father’s house
Until the notes clashed
Broken and brash
Filling our nights with sorrow
And sometimes fear
When my father stumbled
In his dance and lost his song
The stranger he became
I learned to hate
When alcohol released
His futile anger at his fate
Which denied him
His father’s love
The music sweet and bitter
Stilled at last
When my father vanished
Without a word, or good-bye
Once after years of silence,
I saw a man so like my father
And he saw me
But we did not speak
My child-anger stole my voice
As the man passed, waited,
Then walked away
Music once filled my father’s house,
Treasure given and received,
And a bittersweet refrain still echoes
Of memory and might have been
And that which never was
FLASH DANCER
Fluorescent pink
Is a flash dancer,
Loves hard rock,
Punk rock,
And heavy metal.
Fluorescent pink
Is energy unleashed,
A 72-hour marathon,
Burning with a heat
Like the unexpected
Sting of dry ice.
UNICORNS ALL
She was the unicorn who
Danced across center stage
On feet as light and soft as
Morning mist across the grass
You felt the wide wonder
Of all the children watching
Almost as if they too were
Unicorns flying free as air
IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE
Music filled my father’s house
From violin, guitar and mandolin
Instruments of second-hand parts
Repaired with tender care
By my father’s and granddad’s hands
Melodies flowed from the radio
And precious record discs
To fill the big front room
Where the polished floor
Rang in the counterpoint
Of tap and soft shoe
As my father danced
The rhythms of poetry
Rolled around the rooms
As my father recited from memory
The words of his favorites
The lilt of laughter
And the cello chords of voices
Blended into music, too
Yes, sweet music filled
My father’s house
Until the notes clashed
Broken and brash
Filling our nights with sorrow
And sometimes fear
When my father stumbled
In his dance and lost his song
The stranger he became
I learned to hate
When alcohol released
His futile anger at his fate
Which denied him
His father’s love
The music sweet and bitter
Stilled at last
When my father vanished
Without a word, or good-bye
Once after years of silence,
I saw a man so like my father
And he saw me
But we did not speak
My child-anger stole my voice
As the man passed, waited,
Then walked away
Music once filled my father’s house,
Treasure given and received,
And a bittersweet refrain still echoes
Of memory and might have been
And that which never was
AUTHOR NOTES
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“UNICORNS ALL” is included this week for International Fairy Day. The poem describes the appearance of her daughter (as a unicorn) in a production of Sleeping Beauty at the local college.
REFRACTIONS— a memoir poem by Kathleen Roxby
“IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE” appears this week for Father’s Day. The home described is based on stories told to the author by her mother about her childhood home. Recent research reveals that in the 1950’s her father’s nephew moved to California town to which Margaret’s had relocated in the early 1940’s. It is entirely likely that the man she saw on the bus was the cousin she either never knew or did not expect in California. He died not long after from health problems due to his service in WW2, and is buried in the LA military cemetery.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“FLASH DANCER” is included this week for Pink Day, June 23. It is one of the a series of poems the author wrote for her collection “A Singular Prism.”
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.
Guidelines for submission:
SPLINTERS FOR JUNE 2022
FOR NOAH’S FATHER
Surrounded in the music of a metaphor
In the shimmer of a simile,
From allusion to alliteration
You will look for the child you knew.
Through the language of his poetry
You will find him.
Over the noise of the years
Beyond the person you were
Amid the moments redefined
You will see the child who was.
Overwhelmed by his pain
Undone by the retelling of days unrealized
Drowned in tears that should have found cause
You will come to know a stranger’s child.
Behind the unseen door where he hid away
All he could not share,
By the image in the mirror
Of the parent you might have been.
Through the language of his poetry
On equal ground
Forgiving each what he could not be
The two of you, parent and child, shall meet at last.
CLOUD VIEW
From the plane window
Unearthly sky floor stretches
Impenetrable
Unending white clouds luring:
Pathway to a changeless blue
THAT SMALL WATERFALL
Is that small waterfall still there?
And the cool, dark pool just below
In which my face, trees and sky reflected?
So little water came over sometimes
It looked a lot like lace curtains
Now I wonder, is it still there?
AUTHOR NOTES
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“CLOUD VIEW” was written for a tanka contest. It is included this week for Nature Photography Day, June 15.
REFRACTIONS— a memoir poem by Robert Roxby
“THAT WATERFALL” appears this week for June 16, International Waterfall Day. The poem first appeared in the author’s collection poems, Reflections on a Lifetime.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“FOR NOAH’S FATHER” was inspired by a poetry reading given by a young poet at the author’s poetry group. It is included this week for upcoming Father’s Day.