Portrait

\ˈpor-trət\
n. a pictorial representation of a person (or family) usually showing the face

What is it                                that makes                a family
                spherical
in the blue marble                                assurances
one collects                from bags                                long forgotten
                                                in corner basements?

Is it the man                                who rounds himself                                like an interstate
                                who promises
never to leave you,                                your mother,                three brothers, and a sister                with child
                                                behind?

Is it the one-eyed                                window                of a house
                he came back to roost
and rustle his feathers                                                'til the old hen
finally girded up                enough angst                                                to take flight
                                only to discover she had no wind, no wings, and no song?

What makes                a father                                spherical?
                In the knowing
                                and knowing he    unknowingly creates                into shards
                                                of family

                                he leaves                behind                as children
                                left to prick
their fingers                                                                at memories
swept                into piles                                until we halfway                resemble                                 a mosaic

Chaun Ballard was raised in both Missouri and California. For six years now, he and his wife have been teaching in the Middle East and West Africa. He is currently a graduate student in the University of Alaska, Anchorage’s MFA Program. His poems have recently been published in or accepted by The Caribbean Writer, Orbis: Quarterly International Literary Journal, the Best New African Poets 2015 anthology, and other literary magazines.