In Military Quarantine
by Nathan Porceng 

 

My reflection is a ghost,

a civilian apparition.

Locked up

without grooming standards,

barbers to meet them,

nor chiefs to enforce them,

I reappear.

 

My fade

itself fades

into a field of curls,

my father’s bushy hair

legacy.

I run my hands

through substance,

tug at

and tangle it.

Shadow shades

then bursts into beard,

redder than I remember,

foreignly familiar

upon my face.

 

The sickness will pass,

I’ll clean up and shave,

and the ghost of three years

will wait two more.

 

Here’s to meeting again

in happier times.

---

Image: Stuart Buck is a visual artist and award-winning poet living in North Wales. His art has been featured in several journals, as well as gracing the covers of several books. His third poetry collection, Portrait of a Man on Fire, is forthcoming from Rhythm & Bones Press in November 2020. He is the art editor for Konstellation Magazine and available for commissions all year round. He can be contacted via Twitter or E-Mail

Nathan Porceng is a Washington based poet, songwriter, and submariner. As part of the band Bridge Out, he won first place at the 2014 Northeastern Songwriter Festival in Brookfield, CT. Nathan enjoys the works of The Clash and Adrienne Rich. His opinions are his own.