You are here a moment
Like a snowflake
Shiny and beautiful
Yet oddly cold,
Strike a solid something
Melt away, first water
Then air
Then nothing
Except maybe
Someone's else's
Bittersweet memory
Of the small storm
You were
On your best day.
_
"Gone" is excerpted from Wilken's book Poetry Factory (2017).
Dennis Paul Wilken is a prolific poet, sketch-artist, veteran journalist and Senior Literary Editor for The Commonline Journal. He studied at the University of Cincinnati and is a former Staff Writer for Cincinnati Magazine. His poem "Outcomes" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2011. His first chapbook is called Sweat Off the Diamond (2009). His recent chapbook Poetry Factory (2017) is forthcoming from Imperative Papers.