Erected to the Memory

Erected to the Memory
Charles S. Carr

I could not find you
among the weeping cursive
of names scrolled on crusty pages
listing Donegal’s dead 1847.

But here you are enshrined
under the foliage of an Irish Yew
cultivating questions in me,
but I only have the silence

to address your stone
with the murmurs in the mist
a breath of your vintage air
the babble of birds.

Listening to the crunch of my steps
scratch your edges
fingers tapping,
trace the inscription:

By his sons in America.

***

Charles Carr is a native Philadelphian, born and raised in Southwest Germantown. Charles attended LaSalle College and Bryn Mawr College, and has a Master's degree in American History. For 35 years Charles has worked in social services, developing programs and advocating for the needs of abused and neglected children. Charles has also completed missions to Haiti and he is active in raising awareness and funds for Haiti. In 2009 Cradle Press of St. Louis published Charles's first book of poetry: paradise, pennsylvania. Charles has been published in various local poetry reviews and is the 2008 First Prize Winner for the Mad Poets Review. Haitian Mud Pies, Charles's next collection of poems will be completed in December 2011. Charles is married and has one son.