Hearing Them Leave

Nails hammered to leather soles

striking the Cobblestone

Screaming in the Wooden silence

of those Black and Silver days

I heard them Go

 

Such a Tuning Fork, that resonance

is the Background of my life

the Tapestry of Noise against which

all else Echoes

 

Muttering incessantly I cannot die

hold on, lest the Memory fade

in the race to Forget

 

I am the Wave Length of those buildings

that are no longer

 

I am a Frequency to those who come

revisit the places of horror

we dare not Ignore

 

I resonate Relentless, such ghost pains

for those who will listen, remember

and Keep Living

 

For those who deny, won’t hear

I drive them to Tone Madness

 

I, I am Sound Memory.

Art Work by Yaron Rosner

Art Work by Yaron Rosner

 

The Rhododendron Lady

Your lips, Quiz

Art Work by Jessica Hengen

Art Work by Jessica Hengen

squinting, you peer

into our World

and Wonder

why did I come here?

 

Laced with heady Blossoms

Succulent leaves

always Verdant

you look at us

and Wonder

why so much Effort?

 

Embalmed with persuasive fragrance

you interrogate the substance

of our Lives

Wonder

why so much Pain?

 

Girdled by your Dark crown

caught between two worlds

you come forward

as we toil,

Inquire

what have I done?

 

with every question

another leaf,

sometimes a bloom,

As queen you bear

many names,

As one of us

an outsider

you give Solace

to Some

Annoyance to others

 

the ambiguity

of your presence

a reminder

how feeling discomfort

can be a blessing

in Disguise

The Whitening

Deep-rooted,

the Need to see

Dirt in the Other

engaging in condemnation

appears to clear the Self

  like a shower to our shadow

*

the vigorous Cleanse

however,

comes Smeared with

a most disturbing shade

of sanctimoniousness

(The price, Surely, of Sight

in Black and White Only)

*

It’s  in the Softening

of our Vision

the edges merge, a gray Depth

rises from the picture’s

Perspective

*

Righteousness however

seldom Softens,

it hounds with indignant Piety

more vehemently

as if trying to strip

a layer of Skin

remove the darkness it disavows

the disturbing Reality

that there are not always definitive answers

in our ever-changing World

where so much remains the Same

*

Art Work By Yaron Rosner

Art Work By Yaron Rosner

The Vessel

Close to Shore

She Yearns

Anchored in the Bay

She gently Rocks-

back and forth

the handling

hull scrubbing

commotion

Delays-

the Captain draws

long  breaths

leaning forward

into the Journey

Ahead-

everyday the comings

and goings intensify,

the Hesitaters

kick sand on the beach

looking at their feet

should I go or should I stay?

The volume rises, the pitch

Escalates

Anticipation Magnifies

Until one morning

the Bustle gone

we wake to an unsettling

Stillness,

peering across the Water

there She is

a shape in the distance

dissolving into the Horizon

while the sand kickers

continue shuffling

one foot to another,

She is on her Way

valiantly focused

on catching the Wind

in her sails

meeting each Wave

Evenly

Never to Return as She Left

*

Photograph by Nick Zungoli

Photograph by Nick Zungoli