Art and Poetry / An Old Old Story

Here is a recent poem and companion art work, I hope you enjoy it.

An Old Old Story

His family bible is open
but never read, without
any answers to prayer
he no longer wants
to be holy.

As he watches TV
with no art on his walls
or desire to be civil,

a story grabs his spine,
salutes the American age,
the wars and the factories
that sucked his life dry.

A medal
for serving his country
in time of war is tucked
in his top dresser drawer.

At night he sings hymns
to drown out the cursing
in the back of his mind,
a Salvation Army
of tambourine
cymbals.