Poetic Form 62: Concrete Form

 

Poetic Form #62: Concrete Form

A concrete poem is written so that the shape of the words on the page matches the subject of the poem.

To The Woman Painting

It is 12:30 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon

I am sitting at the drive-thru of my locally owned pharmacy

    with my five year-old daughter in the back seat

        waiting for antibiotics for her strep throat

Your apartment is on the second floor

    I see you standing in the window

    You are wearing a blue sweater

        decorated with what appears to be snowflakes

    A brush with white paint in your right hand

        You step up on a ladder I can’t see

            to paint above the window

        You are wearing grey pants

You step down

    keeping the brush pointed up

        A bare light hangs behind you

I guess your age to be 50ish

    Your hair light, short and curled

You move the unseen step ladder to your left

then step up to paint in the corner

I only see your elbow, now

What is your story?

    Why are you painting a room on a Thursday afternoon?

Did you cradle children in that arm?

Are you recently divorced?

Maybe a widow?

Or did you move to this town to be close to your grandkids?

    You step down

Walk across my view

        only to return a second later

            brush held up, fresh paint on its bristles

Your elbow is the last I see of you

As the pharmacist

        instructs me on how many doses my daughter can take today

I drive away

    I only see the ceiling of your newly painted room

        as I turn onto the street

        heading home with my sick daughter

        ignorant of your story

            but hoping that today’s chapter ends well