Mary Ann Samyn

Times I Talked to Him About The Weather

Times I said nothing at all.
Often I tidied his room, or lay my head on his chest.
All of it, gone now.
It happens to everyone, but why him?
The sky grays. What was forecast. Same as yesterday.
I make a list of accomplishments I would like to have. 
I review the list of dreams. 
In one, he was a little higher. On a ladder, seemed like.
Heaven could be that. You never know.
At the cemetery, I talk to him like he’s there.
Elsewhere, also. 
Hi, Dad to the three cardinals in the dogwood,
to the last patch of ice melting so handsomely.
A scientist, he explained things.
A believer, he had doubts. 
What I wouldn’t give to see him again, late nights,
sitting in his chair, thinking it over. 

Mary Ann Samyn is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Air, Light, Dust, Shadow, Distance, winner of the 2017 42 Miles Press Prize, and My Life in Heaven, winner of the 2012 FIELD Prize. She is a professor of English in the MFA Program at West Virginia University.