Publication:  January 14, 2019 [100 copies]
31 pages
ISBN: 978-1-949333-41-1
$ 9.00

William Varner swims in the ocean off the coast of southern Maine, where he lives and works as the managing editor for an educational publisher. His poems, reviews, and essays have appeared widely in journals and anthologies. In 2018 he was a finalist for the Maine Literary Award in Poetry.

The Last Father Poem

Only the spittle
of AM radio in your car
those few times we met,
a swinging air freshener,
cigarettes little twisted
arms in the ashtray.
The waitress in the diner
brought coffee
and checked on us
too many times,
her apron the color
of the dried mustard
near the cap.
And I’ve forgotten
where the cemetery is,
how on the street as I looked away
Amish buggies slowed,
and the men took off their black hats,
held them to their chests,
and gave a short, sharp nod.

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