Poetry Pause: D.S. Martin – Handkerchief

Poem Author: D.S. Martin Poem title: Handkerchief Poem: My father fumbles for a handkerchief in the pocket where he put it where he's placed his security the numbers that work out right the muskie tugging on his fishing line though deeply out of sight the time & time & time again when we went to the trailer to the cottage to his workshop in the basement & the familiarity of my face The place where he's put so much has holes He tries another pocket & pulls out a paper where my name's been recorded & the names of his grandsons & of my wife but they're not there Each week I carefully rewrite them neatly & gently although by the time I've crossed the parking lot the paper once more is empty End of Poem. Copyright © D.S. Martin D.S. Martin is the author of four poetry collections, including Ampersand (2018), & Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis (2013) — both from Cascade Books. He is Poet-in-Residence at McMaster Divinity College, the Series Editor for the Poiema Poetry Series, and has recently edited three anthologies — The Turning Aside (2016), Adam, Eve, & the Riders of the Apocalypse (2017), and In A Strange Land (2019). D.S. Martin is known for his blog, Kingdom Poets, where he has posted weekly about Christian Poetry since February of 2010. He and his wife live in Brampton, Ontario.