Excerpt from It's Been a Fine Year
"Part of What Remains" A Poem by Spencer Folkins
It’s Been a Fine Year explores the poet’s immediate relationships—including reflections on mortality and isolation—before, during, and after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. The poet’s senior dog is often used as an entry point to these conversations with the reader.
Part of what remains
appears as a cross fallen, disregarded
lays atop the downed sign of a realtor, pinned but not impaled, despite the gradual unearthing of the post from spring's mix of sand and snow under the weight of the rightmost
while the left arm bids familiar adieu-not bitter; instead, offering best wishes on this gritty stretch of backroad
Against what once was its base, the now-cross has fallen at its own feet to address the dog
out walking-her long-retired fervent hunting snort greets every roadside anthill, increasing with activity each day in anticipation of her return
and with it, the guaranteed release marking her scent, haunches pulsating rhythmic as quivering gargoyles.
Spencer Folkins (he/him) is thinking about writing a poem on a lost dog’s collar. He serves as a member of the AX: Arts & Culture Centre of Sussex Literary Committee. His writing appears in literary journals and chapbooks such as All Things to Keep You Here (a collaborative chapbook with The Egg Poets: Homerow, 2023) and Poems for Burning (Gridlock Lit, 2024). Spencer is a member of his local and Provincial Ground Search and Rescue Associations, in which he has served as President and Board Member (respectively). He teaches in his hometown. Spencer's second solo-chapbook, It's Been a Fine Year, was published by Anstruther Press in March 2025. https://www.anstrutherpress.com/#/its-been-a-fine-year-by-spencer-folkins/