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.

Viking Grave

Viking Grave
Charles Carr

Languages barter for directions.
Until the tines of a rake clear lines in the gravel,
extracting a map from here to the Stone ages.

Seated on the crest of a barley field, a dolman.
8 split stones knee deep in soil. Inward,
backs bent like pall bearers, suspending monoliths above the underworld.
I see the two of us in procession, wading through the green.
The soil cracking with thirst underfoot.
Divining hearts probe the source and reason for us.

We climb to sit touching
our masks wrapped in black, grey and gold.
Gazing at the boundless, shivering stone.

Memories whispering:
Goddess of sight
create light and darkness. Paint the swerving verticals and horizontals.

Oracle of sounds.
Purse your lips and tongue against a lur,
marshal truth, frighten lies. Protect us from mere mortals.

***

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.

On becoming a part of a Family tree

On becoming a part of a Family tree
Charles Carr


An estuary empties
your past
here it sails.
A conquering language:
names with O’s,
arrows thrust in their heart,
voiceless consonants.

I am at a new intersection of myself.
Perpendicular to births and deaths.
A flat land of memories.
Lines grow
deeper in the soil
bonding, illuminating

but I want to stop here,
before time,
completed,
curls up in a parenthesis.

***

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.