Close to home

Lewiston Fall, Lewiston Maine, 2011 — photo by author

somehow, maybe by the nagging tug of images,
I thought were securely lodged in the rearview mirror, or
a shift in the bend memory puts in the orbit of events, or
by the sheer and singular gravity of tragedy, or
the loom of shadows, reaching across history,
but somehow, vanquished ghosts appeared
cross legged and uncreased,
across my kitchen table