ACE BOGGESS
MY MOTHER’S NEIGHBOR DIED
I didn’t know him well, though I wrote a poem about him
when his dementia had him frantic, questioning
why Mexicans danced in my mother’s trees,
so I thought it fair to send him off with a few kind words
about how he repaired the foundation of her garage
(although he did it poorly)
or how he was the nicest guy in his imaginary circle,
but like I said, I didn’t know him,
which made him part of my imaginary circle, &
according to my mother, an all-
around good neighbor, one of the best things
you can say about anyone. Now I have.
Ace Boggess is author of four books of poetry, most recently I Have Lost the Art of Dreaming It So (Unsolicited Press, 2018) and Ultra Deep Field (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2017), and the novel A Song Without a Melody (Hyperborea Publishing, 2016). His writing has appeared in Harvard Review, Mid-American Review, RATTLE, River Styx, North Dakota Quarterly and many other journals. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.