It’s Not Over
The NAMES Project in Atlanta
Just behind The Silver Skillet
past the parking lot, a seamstress
works—mostly alone—Names are kept
here—sorted, folded, catalogued.
Shelves are full and there’s a backlog
of cloths. This is shrine, not a list.
While inside The Silver Skillet
timeless waitresses do the same
work as always—quickly—adept
with eggs, country ham and coffee.
One man sits— “Warm that up, sweetie?”—
about to meet his brother’s name
—Mark J. Mitchell
Mark J. Mitchell was born in Chicago and grew up in southern California. His latest poetry collection, Starting from Tu Fu, was just published by Encircle Publications. A new collection is due out in December from Cherry Grove. He is very fond of baseball, Louis Aragon, Miles Davis, Kafka and Dante. He lives with his wife, the activist and documentarian, Joan Juster, in San Francisco where he made his marginal living pointing out pretty things. Now, like everyone else, he’s unemployed. He has published two novels and three chapbooks and two full-length collections so far. Titles on request. A meager online presence can be found at https://www.facebook.com/MarkJMitchellwriter/.