Issue 21

Fall 2019

Inclusion

Larry D. Thacker

Do they feel you hinting around

as they gather up for photos.

At the wedding reception.

The family reunion. After cleaning

the graves on Memorial Day.

Where do you like to sneak in

and hover close, among linked arms

and held hands. At birthdays.

Graduations. Deathbeds.

Do you have a preferred scent

we might find familiar,

pleasing. Off-putting.

Would we surely know

without knowing

as you brushed our neck

when the flash goes off,

in our temporary blindness.

Is this why our eyes are closed

when everyone else

in the frame seems fine.

About the Author

Larry D. Thacker is a Kentuckian writer, artist, and educator hailing from Johnson City, TN. He lives with his wife, Karin, and their cat, Abraham Lincoln. His poetry is in over 150 publications including Spillway, Still: The Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Poetry South, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The American Journal of Poetry, The Lake, Illuminations Literary Magazine, and Appalachian Heritage. His books include three full poetry collections, Drifting in Awe, Grave Robber Confessional, and Feasts of Evasion, two chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train, as well as the folk history, Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia. His MFA in poetry and fiction is earned from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Visit his website at: www.larrydthacker.com.

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