Keepsakes

Keepsakes

Life Gem of Chicago can turn your
deceased loved one into a diamond.
The same thing can be done with pets.
─FATE, February 2003

New catacombs rise high in Chicago
full of air and glassless windows

designed to erase memories and songs
of undisclosed pastoral dreams

where untamed skunks and squirrels
quietly arrange warm autumn nests.

Stopping time, we no longer belong
where the land is painted with the sea

and the scents and sounds of time—
travel the tides of homecomings—but

square-cut or pear shaped, this diamond
ring doesn’t shine for you anymore

for we are anchored by keepsakes and
heirlooms, the weight of holding on.

by Edward Baranosky

Edward Baranosky’s work emphasizes the ever-changing moments of the sea. As a poet-artist he crosses the channels and pathways between the visual and the textual. Published in Eastern Structures, Haiku Avenue, Lynx Journal, Northern New England Review, Mid-Atlantic Review, Crossing Lines, Comstock Review among others. At 79, he is still emerging. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada. Website: https://painterpoet.weebly.com Education: BFA 1969, RISD, Major in Painting.

Photo Credit: A panel from “The Apotheosis of Quetzalcoatl” 1969, by Ed Baranosky.