Ten Years Gone

Loretta Diane Walker

December 15, 2021

For Arthur March 14, 1998--May 9, 2011

I covet the music of his sleep.

The rising and falling of his breath.

The syncopation of his snoring.

I long for the cadence of his yelps.

The rhythmic lapping of his tongue.

The bebop of his bouncing body.

I miss his eyes singing happiness.

The admiration in every lash

when I stroke his onion-colored head.

His white clay bowl looks like a candle

in the dim corner of the kitchen.

The memory of him a golden flame.

Loretta Diane Walker, an award-winning poet, multiple Pushcart Nominee, and Best of the Net Nominee, won the 2016 Phyllis Wheatley Book Award for poetry, for her collection, In This House (Bluelight Press). Loretta is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters. Her work has appeared in various literary journals, magazines, and anthologies throughout the United States, Canada, India, Ireland, and the UK. She has published five collections of poetry. Her manuscript Word Ghetto won the 2011 Bluelight Press Book Award. Loretta received a BME from Texas Tech University and earned a MA from The University of Texas of the Permian Basin. She teaches elementary music at Reagan Magnet School, Odessa, Texas.