The Orphan

The unweighted half
of a seesaw
balances skyward–

I have fallen
with stinging thud
in my alone–

the whole sky
fills
with vacant blue–

Born in Pennsylvania, David Anthony Sam is the proud grandson of peasant immigrants from Poland and Syria. For most of his life, he lived and worked in the Detroit area, graduating from Eastern Michigan University (BA, MA) and Michigan State (Ph.D.). He lives now in Virginia with his wife and life partner, Linda. Sam’s poetry has appeared in over 80 journals and publications and he has five published collections including Final Inventory, published by Prolific Press in October 2018. Sam’s chapbook Finite to Fail: Poems after Dickinson was the 2016 Grand Prize winner of GFT Press Chapbook Contest. He currently teaches creative writing at Germanna Community College, where he retired as President in 2017. He serves on the Board of the Virginia Poetry Society.