Visitation

In the folds of old flannel
draped over my closet door, 
my father’s face manifest, wizened
in profile, knob-nosed and knowing, 
a Germanic folk tale illustration. 
 
When I look close, he’s disappeared
back into the underbrush, 
unblinking eyes watching me
from so deep in bracken, I can only catch
the slightest scent on the sleeves. 
 
I grasp for more, 
but it is crumbs left in the wood, 
glinting in moonlight, 
illuminating the way,
no matter how hard I try to get lost.

Rebecca Hart Olander’s poetry has appeared recently in Brilliant Corners, Queen of Cups, and Yemassee Journal, and her critical work has appeared in Rain Taxi Review of Books, Solstice Literary Magazine, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. She was the winner of the 2013 Women’s National Book Association poetry contest, judged by Molly Peacock. Rebecca lives in Western Massachusetts where she teaches writing at Westfield State University and is the editor and director of Perugia Press.