Napatree Point 2022

Every summer we walk along the shore to Napatree Point.

Every summer we wonder how far it is 
    even though we have Fitbit watches or iPhones.

This summer it’s a bit over three miles there and back.

Every summer we bring flowers to place where some of your 
    ashes are buried.

Every summer everyone places flowers on that site, but I 
    prefer to throw mine into the sea where we tossed 
    the other half of your ashes.

Every summer we get in a circle, our arms hug each other’s 
    shoulders.

Every summer each of us shares a memory, thought or poem 
    connected in some way to you.

This summer Colin, who was ten when you passed and is now 
    seventeen shared he doesn’t remember his grandmother very 
    well.

Every summer we return to town along the shore at our own 
    paces and with our own memories.

Your husband, Roscoe, comes all the way from Colorado to do 
    the walk. He is 86 and he can’t easily make the walk 
    any longer.

***

Garrett Phelan is the author of the chapbook Outlaw Odes (Antrim House) and the micro-chapbooks Unfixed Marks and Standing where I am (Origami Poem Project). His poems have appeared in numerous publications includingHarpy Hybrid,Slipstream, Potomac Review, Connecticut River Review, Barzakh Magazine, Sheila-Na-Gig,and Third Wednesday. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee.