Aftershocks
by J. Howard
“Trauma Keeps Us Standing in the Same Place”
—Marilyn Kallet, Sept. 11 2016
Ghosts keep floating from the screen
though the television has been turned off body
after body like laundry in the wind
Protoplasm writhing in suits from Barney’s bleeding
through chef jackets outfits bought on sale
at Goodwill-- souls blasted out of their
bodies no time to catch a spiritual drop down
mask to lead the way to the other side these ghosts
shot from crumbled and burning legs
torsos ripped away from shoulders
brains smashed to mud
These souls cling to the warm
electrons of last night's news
and the hand that should have written this poem
hangs over a sheared slice of airplane
somewhere in Arlington
BIO: J. Howard is a teacher, poet, and coordinator of A Splendid
Wake, an organization of poets who work to preserve the history of poetry and
poetry movements in the Washington DC Metro area. Her work has been published
in Poets and Artists, Abundant Grace
(Paycock Press), MiPOesias, On Barcelona,
and Winners: A Retrospective of The
Washington Prize, among other publications. She was a finalist in the 2016
Moving Words Competition sponsored by Arlington Arts. Howard teaches at
Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland and is a former technology editor of The Potomac Review.
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