The Tombstone by John D Robinson

After a light-lunch I took
some diazepam, smoked a
joint and then took a nap;
the most vivid of dreams in
years came to me and when
I awoke, for a minute or so,
I was making plans to visit:
you’ve been dead now for
over 3 decades but today
you knocked on my door
and I opened up and said
‘What the fuck do you want?’
the old guy said nothing, he
was drunk and then I
recognised him as my father,
no longer 43 but 75
with a cropped grey beard:
I took him upstairs and he
settled down in our
granddaughters bedroom:
my daughter and her
twin-girls arrived and I
asked them not to go into
their room: I said nothing of
my father being in the house:
a couple of times I go and check
on him and see a figure laying
still beneath a duvet:
I wake up and wonder why I
haven’t seen him for so long
and tomorrow I am attending
a funeral and begin to plan
for the following day and then
I realize I can’t visit him
anymore, he’s no memorial
of any kind:
I smoke a joint a little
bemused by it all but a
sense of something of him
renewed itself within me,
I offer up this poem as
his tombstone.

John D Robinson is a UK poet: hundreds of his poems have appeared in small press zines and online literary journals His published solo chapbooks are

‘Cowboy Hats & Railways’ (Scars Press 2016)   scars.tv/

‘When You Hear The Bell, There’s Nowhere To Hide’ (Holy&intoxicated Publications 2016   sold out)

‘An Outlaw In The Making’  (Scars Publications 2017)

‘Hitting Home’  (Iron Lung Press 2018  2nd edition)   ironlungpress.bigcartel.com/about-iron–lung–press

‘In Pursuit Of  Shadows’  (Analog Submission Press 2018  sold out)  www.analogsubmission.com

‘Echoes Of Diablo’  (Concrete Meat Press 2018)  adrianmanning.wixsite.com/concretemeatpress

Too Many Drinks Ago’  (Paper & Ink Zine Publications) http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PaperAndInkZine

Pushing Away The Hours    2018   www.lulu.com/.../john-d-robinson/pushing-away-the-hours/.../product-23872337.html 

‎ ‘Hang In There’      (Uncollected Press  2019    USA)  therawartreview.com