Published May 1st, 2023
by Serafin H. Matthews
(Staten Island, New York, United States)
The old buildings are collapsing.
History and family along with it.
Parking lots and supermarkets with memories.
They are all dead.
Today I looked at a list on the wall
of an apartment building
near Lewis Ave and Dekalb.
It was a list of dead men, a memorial of sorts.
Their bodies decomposing and a list on a wall.
What is a name without a body? A figment or a memory?
Now their homes are dying too.
Like the Pyramids
the Roman Relics
and New Amsterdam.
Gone for the new and for the people who have more.
I thought in death we would all be even
but they lied about that too.
Some are remembered and some are forgotten.
Some are names on a wall.
They are watched by eyes
that will one day become names as well.
Biography
Serafin H. Matthews has a Master's degree in History from Liberty University.
He is working on a Doctoral Degree with a focus on Literary History.
Serafin's focus is particularly on Early Twentieth Century Gothic Literature with a focus on H.P. Lovecraft.
Serafin is also working on his first novel.
His favorite writers include William S. Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Kurt Vonnegut, Raymond Chandler, Stephen King, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Soren Kierkegaard, and H.P. Lovecraft.
This poem is included in Poetry World #6, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Previously published in NYC Poetry Magazine:
Parathas With Papa
by Sonya Nasim
NYC Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
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