The Mad Knotty Piner
By
Henry Stimpson
nailed up knotty pine panels
in cabins all over New Hampshire,
I told my little cousin one night
in our dim rented cottage.
Look, I said, each dark knot
marks a dead child’s soul!
Beside those staring eyes,
Karen drifted into haunted sleep.
In her 50s, alone,
she wrestles with the cancer
that will pinch her soul
into a dark knot soon.
Henry Stimpson’s poems have appeared in many publications, including Poet Lore, Rolling Stone, Delmarva Review, Third Wednesday, Atlanta Review, On the Seawall, Mad River Review, The New Criterion (forthcoming) and Lighten Up Online. A Massachusetts resident, he also writes nonfiction, roots for the Boston Celtics, and is a volunteer ESOL tutor.
By
Henry Stimpson
nailed up knotty pine panels
in cabins all over New Hampshire,
I told my little cousin one night
in our dim rented cottage.
Look, I said, each dark knot
marks a dead child’s soul!
Beside those staring eyes,
Karen drifted into haunted sleep.
In her 50s, alone,
she wrestles with the cancer
that will pinch her soul
into a dark knot soon.
Henry Stimpson’s poems have appeared in many publications, including Poet Lore, Rolling Stone, Delmarva Review, Third Wednesday, Atlanta Review, On the Seawall, Mad River Review, The New Criterion (forthcoming) and Lighten Up Online. A Massachusetts resident, he also writes nonfiction, roots for the Boston Celtics, and is a volunteer ESOL tutor.
