Last Seen

by Layle Keane Chambers

I saw my son near Bangor ME, near St. John’s
near Keflavik and Faroe
climbing a bolted route through clouds
I saw my son body surfing Folly between tides
soaking in the homelight

I saw my son as a green line on a computer screen
    ending at 1:46 am

in the shock of 21 guns
kneeling to offer
packing his bag again

I saw my son crying in the shadow
    of the clocktower
finding the deep water of the stroke
I saw my son near Farranfore, 4:56 UCT
two-fisted, lifting the weight
    of a man who was father to him

I saw my son sipping scotch in a Glasgow pub
twisted in the canal
waving from the porch

I saw him grieve a dream, un-gnarl history
wear an open-heart t-shirt
float a feather in the upstream
in his driveway, in his Jeep 

in Tallinn, in Landstuhl
in Rzeszow, in Constanta
on Strada Tudor Vladimirescu
near the Black, Caspian, Baltic Sea

I saw my son nearing Cartwright, Canada

on this side of the world again

     I saw him

check his phone

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“I began writing ‘Last Seen’ after reading Khadijah Queen’s ‘I slept when I couldn’t move’. I was drawn to the use of refrain to bring lightness into a darkness, letting the choral do the heavy lift; in this case, of tracking movement on flightaware.com which literally shows complete real time world-wide aviation traffic. The poem also engages the need to frame every moment as a possible ‘last seen’.” —Layle Keane Chambers

Layle Keane Chambers is a teaching/artist currently living in Folly Beach, SC. She received her BFA from Ithaca College and MA from UTEP in Theatre Arts, is Professor Emeritus of Theatre at Doña Community College, an MFA Candidate in Creative Writing at New Mexico State University, and Proud Air Force Mom.