john hitchner

After the Reception: Things in Their Place


The porch without chairs,
a house of empty chairs with empty arms.

A house with walls,
empty walls of frameless rectangles and squares,
where light once captured us,
our children,
and your watercolors—
lilies asleep on a pond,
morning glories enfolded upon a trellis.

A house of stairs without footsteps,
without the shadow of light from our bedroom,
the bed without you, your arm a crescent across the pillow.

Our bedroom without laughter,
without sighs,
without breath.
After breath, silence,
and after silence, the search for words.


John Hitchner writes poetry and short and long fiction. His work has appeared in several journals, including the Aurorean, Backstreet, and Timber Creek Review. Not Far From Here, an online chapbook of poetry and flash fiction, is now available in print from Scars Publications. Seasons and Shadows, a chapbook of poems, was recently accepted for future publication. He teaches Coming of Age in War and Peace and Creative Writing at Keene State College, Keene, NH.