REUNION
(for AT: banjoist/artist)
---------------------------




It was to be a poem with a banjo in it;
a knocked-over barrel of apples of a poem;
a New Orleans rag from 'Auld Reekie'
But, all I could remember of your banjo
was the wall it hung on: black  -  a mural of Belsen:
skeletons shimmering,
like uncanny constellations;
and I wondered if it is still there,
hale, and lurking below layers of wallpaper;
a comfortable Constable;
and a flight of ducks.
Still there,
shimmering yet,
that flight path of madness.




the tune lingers  -                                         
the stretched skin
echoing



                                                  note: 'Auld Reekie' : ancient name for Edinburgh

(contemporary haibun July 2011)