After the bombs fell, vestiges remained for a long while, 
but there was no one to collect them, no children to listen 
to old tales about the world before; no adults to tell them. 
Not even rats to gnaw these dresses to white shreds. 
They might as well be stone, marble-white as statues 
in the ruins of Pompei or Rome. But the sun still goes on 
rising, light still keeps pouring through the narrow window, 
gilding the gowns’ rich taffeta and silk, embroidered trains. 
The veils’ white froth flows like surf across the floor, holding 
shards of brittle moonlight in its folds. How long has it been 
since bombs rained down, leaving property intact but destroying 
every living thing? Time stopped when the last eye ceased to perceive it. 

—Inspired by the photograph below

Photographer’s name unknown. This image, captioned “Abandoned
wedding dress shop,” was posted to Bluesky by Abandoned Places
on 7 December 2024 (link retrieved on 23 December 2024):

https://bsky.app/profile/abandonedplacess.bsky.social/post/3lcq5cioyus2i

Robbi Nester

is a retired college educator and the author of four books of poetry. She has also edited three anthologies of ekphrastic poetry and hosts two monthly Zoom series. Her poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies, most recently MacQueen’s Quinterly; ONE ART: a journal of poetry; Storyteller Poetry Review; Verse-Virtual; and Whale Road Review.

Learn more at: https://www.robbinester.net

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Three Poems in Verse-Virtual (November 2024)

⚡ Dancing White Egret, ekphrastic poem by Robbi Nester after a photograph by Philippe Rouyer, in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 14, August 2022)

⚡ Naughty Bits, poem in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 11, January 2022); nominated by MacQ for Best of the Net 2023.

⚡ After Blossom, ekphrastic poem after an etching by Phil Greenwood in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 3, May 2020); nominated by MacQ for Best of the Net 2020, and selected as a Poetry Finalist.

⚡ In Memory, five poems by Robbi Nester in Live Encounters (August 2021)