Milledgeville Bricks
John Davis Jr.
From the front steps of the Andalusia, home of author Flannery O’ Connor
Stamped with McMillan and cemented
by twentieth century men into greeting
teeth—a rising smile—you remain
as photos showed in monochrome:
Foundation for her failing feet,
collector of sunbeams and shade,
monument to descent, these aged steps
are held and helped by nurse-white banisters.
Courtesy gone crooked with time,
you proclaim a pained welcome,
an established, expected hospitality.
Not church granite nor tombstone marble,
but a better tribute in Georgia-clay red:
A halting progress, a present history.
John Davis Jr. is the author of The Places That Hold (Eastover Press, 2021), Middle Class American Proverb (Negative Capability Press, 2014) and three other poetry collections. His work has been published by Tupelo Quarterly, Nashville Review, The Common, The American Journal of Poetry, and elsewhere over the last 25 years. He holds an MFA and teaches English and Creative Writing in the Tampa Bay region of Florida, his native state.
