Courtney LeBlanc

What Remains

 Last summer we stood under the hot July sun and returned
my father to the earth. My mother started, tossing the first 
 
handful of ash onto the ground. My siblings and I followed.
What I really wanted was my father there beside me, not gritty
 
ash sandpapering my hand as I opened my fist and released
him to the wind. There's little left of the farm – the house burned
 
down years ago, the nearly collapsed walls of the barn 
a Norman Rockwell in ruin, the red paint faded to match
 
the dirt it lies in. The metal gate that marked the boundary
between yard and pasture still stands, erect only because 
 
of the blooming support system, the weeds and vines
surrounding it. Of the farm and family my father loved
 
his whole life, this is what remains. 

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart (Riot in Your Throat, 2021) and Beautiful & Full of Monsters (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2020). She is a winner of the Jack McCarthy book prize and her next collection of poetry will be published by Write Bloody in spring 2023.