Who knew you would become a comet

by Bob Bradshaw
The Writer's Block
Second Place (tie), August 2020
Judged by Ron Singer


streaking away from us, our family
a trail of dust?

How could you jettison
15 years of marriage
and a daughter?

I am over you,
having burned
our wedding album

and tons of photos.
I ignore rumors
of your engagement

but Julie misses you.
Every day she checks her phone
for your voice–

a voice that
may take years
to reach her.


The conceit of desertion as a comet is original and apt. It works well in the first four lines, and then again in the last six. The detail about the voice mail that “may take years/to reach” the daughter makes for a strong ending: surprising, but totally apt.
--Ron Singer