Chapter 16
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“Forsythia in February”

Book Excerpt: Visiting Hours

Forsythia in February

Rapid, their blooming overnight,
How they remind me another year has turned,

These boughs of yellow stars effulgent
At the feet of fence posts on the shoulders

Of empty highways, resplendent
These firebrands of a life half-remembered.

“My God,” I say to these gold flames golden
Only briefly, “what’s become of you, girl I loved?”

My God, I hear her say back, boy who never said
I love you. What of these harsh winds?

What of this hard dream
Of yet another cold front

 Yet another dawn?

 

[Read a Q&A with Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum about Visiting Hours here.]

“Forsythia in February”

Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum, a Nashville native, is the author of Ghost Gear and editor of Apocalypse Now: Poems & Prose from the End of Days. He’s the acquisitions editor for Upper Rubber Boot Books and the founder and editor of PoemoftheWeek.com and the Floodgate Poetry Series.

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