The Approach; Abandonment Issues by Wayne Russell

The Approach

The winter will be here soon

after this enchantment, this

copious splendor of Fall

the twirling leaves will fade

in their multitude of colors

back into the ravenous jaws

of famished earth, the park

bench will be lonely for the

eternity of wisdom from us.

Remember when we sat there?

We spoke of so many things,

our hopes, our dreams spilled

out for the multitude of people

oblivious and wandering by, their

ears, lazy sponges absorbing

bits of conversations that they

could care less about, and now

our ghost too, now clueless in

memories strewn beneath the

failing trees, leaving in their wake

our echoing voices, quivering for

all eternity, our footsteps leave

their marks, as they echo in their

chambers of seasonal photographs.

Abandonment Issues

I have abandonment issues

to this day, I live with the ghost

of my parents that didn't want me

my father was a drunken donor,

that brought me

into this pain riddled existence

when I was two, he signed me over

to the state of Florida

my mother was unstable

she probably didn't put up much

of a fight to keep her four kids

at home with her and the filthy dishes

we left them with the rats and holes

in the walls, my mom said the insulation

looked like pink cotton candy

my dad quit his job, took his paycheck,

and started a bar hop, until the money

was gone.