Plantation House

by | Jan 10, 2012 | Poetry

Behind the long dirt drive
hide sagging windows
and heavy curtains. In the only
lit room in the house a man
warms himself by the fireplace
and realizes that he has never
been more alone than he is.
An old photograph framed
in cherry hangs desperately
to the yellowed wallpaper,
while winter smoke rises
against chimney brick and then
sky and then, where does it go
from there? The man thinks it’s
where we all go, but I think
he’s the worst kind of fool.
I think the darkened rooms around
him simply weigh the earth down
with their uselessness. I think
it’s honorable to die when
we’re supposed to. Let the
cowards wish for eternal life.

About The Author

Travis Mossotti

Travis Mossotti was awarded the 2011 May Swenson Poetry Award by contest judge Garrison Keillor for his first collection of poems, About the Dead (USU Press, 2011), and his work has appeared in such places as the Antioch Review, Manchester Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Subtropics, The Writer’s Almanac, Vallum and many others. In 2009, he was awarded the James Hearst Poetry Prize from the North American Review by contest judge Robert Pinsky, and in 2010 his poem “Decampment” was adapted to screen as an animated short film. He currently resides in St. Louis with his wife Regina and their daughter Cora.