A Sudden Change of Seasons, poetry (again)

I am obsessed and keep changing the line breaks. And lines. AK! I'm trying for a certain effect, but can't afford the time to keep working on this now.

A Sudden Change of Seasons

A family trip to the city stalls

when, in stacks at a crowded bookstore,

seeking books in ancient

Greek and Latin, my father

disappears. Aisles now oddly empty.

My mother and I bump

into each other searching

for my father. Calling his name. It is later

than we thought. We’ve missed

the downtown bus. Eat lunch instead

in an uptown outdoor café. In the sun.

Between planters of petunias and golden

honey locusts, we watch

for my father. I think I see him,

an anonymous man

in a brown felt hat and flapping trench coat

headed our way with a package of books

tied in brown twine. The city bus

blocks him from sight, won’t stop

when I try to flag it down. When it is gone

without us, my father is gone

again, too. I think he’s vanished

into the city until I spot him

sledding

with a group of children,

running up the snowy hill

with an air mattress. Face full of fun

and light, he turns, waves once,

and continues on

without us.

Mary Stebbins

For Pa

[050616a, 050615b, 050409-3b, 020217-2x, 1]