~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Richard Newman

The Haunting

They glide down hallways from one room to the next

in silence, lost to times they used to touch

and feel each other’s warmth. They seem perplexed

to find themselves abstractions of themselves.

The current occupants might see them smile

when children shriek, little fountains of laughter,

careening toy cars down the haunted halls.

At least their haunting is no longer hostile.

When they were living, their midnight verbal brawls

once bumped their family albums from the shelves.

They pass bright faces hung throughout the home,

the travel trinkets that once meant so much,

resigned now to their charming catacomb,

this endless, uninhabited hereafter.

Richard Newman is the author of three books of poetry, most recently All the Wasted Beauty of the World (Able Muse Press, 2014), and the novel Graveyard of the Gods. His work has appeared in American Journal of Poetry, Best American Poetry, Boulevard, Tar River Poetry, and many other magazines and anthologies. He currently teaches Creative Writing and World Literature at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco. Before moving to the Maghreb, he and his family lived in Vietnam, Japan, and the Marshall Islands.