November 22, 2021 Poems

Welcome to our Poetry Platform.  We are sharing some of our writers’ new poems every Monday.  Thank you for reading and thank you for supporting them in their creative endeavor and Center for New Americans in our welcoming endeavor!

 

MY LOVE SAYS / Jodie Shapiro

My love says every

bread has a life of its own

breathing,

rising, falling, heating,

and rising again

 

Like us, breathing tangled in sleep

deep under covers

covers drift and sometimes fall

from one side to another, mostly to my loves side

 

And when it gets hot, my loves foot rests

outside as mine rests under only a sheet

As light seeps into this quiet space,

of breathing, rising and falling

 

within that moment just before full waking,

we splendidly curl towards each other, touching

in that space, we hoped the dog has not

found to slither, leaving us packed together like sardines.

 

****************************************************

NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM TAIPEI / Geo Cernada

Inside the silent museum

foreign outsiders snake along

ancient jade, classic scrolls, precious celadon

plundered loot of Chinese Empire.

Two pause in awe,

coiled open mouthed before

a Chinese brush painted scene

black ink on faded rice paper screen.

Wordlessly we

word guess

ideas of idiomatic symbols

sounds of Chinese characters

scrolled down the side.

Eyes slide

trace the swirling mountainside

higher to whisps of floating clouds;

then drop

suddenly aware of a couple curlicued

outlined by single brushstrokes

enroute winding path

to summit top.

Are we the outside couple

looking at the painting

or the inside couple

framed perhaps measuring

looking up at the clouds

how far up they are to touch—

perhaps watching us watching them?

 

**************************************************

TWILIGHT / Katharine Price Nelson

Twilight, breath out.

Day is done, gone the sun,

from the fields, from the sky,

lingering only at torn edges,

where it meets beginning dark.

Breath in, pulls night closer.

Close enough to feel it dance,

on your cheek, your arm,

your imagination.

 

************************************************

REVERSE FIGHT / Loren Talbot

Holding fiercely to our sides, my weighted
head digs into your chest

The tears slide up and pool lake-like,
in our eyes. We release our clenched

fists and inhale. Words pink-pong,
as I fold laundry into perfect squares

at the bottom of the stairs. The hurt
you feel is nowhere near where I left it

in the house. The dog and I in lockstep,
our gait unapologetic witnessed by stars

I stand up enraged. Move to the sink,
clanging pans like a pirate

wondering why you had to reply,
are you really saying that again?

 

***********************************************

NOVEMBER FUNERAL PROCESSION / Maureen Carney

Dear Mary Lorraine,

Mother Theresa Calcutta

Has now welcomed you

 

Do you remember

Playing on Savin Hill Beach?

Weren’t those happy days?

 

From her porch Bea waves.

She came here from Curraghboy

Building life anew.

 

Bea and Ben found love.

Their Mary Jim and John raised us

From them twenty four

 

Here still twenty one

An hourglass with grains of sand

each a moment now

 

Do you remember

Warm sands of Dennisport beach?

Sands of forever!

 

Love goes on and on

Galway Bay to Savin Hill

Life is infinite