My dad cracked walnuts
between his nose and upper lip.
He said he learned how
as a U.S. Marine.
Chagall 2018
Archive for September, 2018
I want you to succeed, but despite your shortcomings,
not because of them.
Chagall 2018
I poke through
the seam around the edge
I’m expelled
as a tear from a wink
I roll down the cheek
of beautiful existence
she licks the top of her lip
where I come to rest
if I do
I am
viscous
as mercury
silver against black
creation in stars atop night
I am happy to be day
if only she would be twilight
My lives sprinkle from my palm
diamonds alight on jeweler’s silk
She chooses her favorite outcomes
set in tricolor braids of gold
If I’m diverted
as a tear
I will miss her lips
and instead disappear
in mid-air
© Chagall 2013
See the particles that
comprise the light
In mid-air dance, aqueous
captured blue on the journey
As if underwater
buoyant and bouncing
Balloons on the rise
Untethered and headless
this universe of mine
is bespoke
I am the catalyst, provocateur
holding sway over this and distant
fallen orbs
Yet to succumb to the ennui of eons,
patient in the succession of aftermaths
I have outlived all
that I’ve loved
Chagall 2018
My heart once was open
a drafty emptied room
Sun aslant
on faded walls
venetian blinds
parted and stuck
bent by peering eyes
I look out
over beachfront
abandoned
atop the dune
beyond the reach
of riptide
Swirls of mist
amass and conspire
to engulf me
There at the edge
of a rising sea
out on a ledge
staring down
© Chagall, 2013/2018 revised
As I walk deeper into the garden
cool emerald surround
I disturb the entangled branches
above dry leaves matted
atop earthly loam
the scents of my life arise
my grandmother’s couch and cachet
lavender afield
the smell of shaving cream and Vitalis
permeates the night air around my uncle’s home
upstate New York every summer
hickory smoke
the lemon of Aubrey’s hair
mint on her lips
a kiss is salt water
the invigorating aroma of life
Chagall 2018
If I were blind
I’d learn to discern
the remarkable scent
of your voice
If I wasn’t so blind
I’d have had the chance
to revel in your love
Chagall 2018
I want to let go
but my heart will
not let me relent.
Chagall 2018
My identity?
Steal it!
Please.
I beg you.
Chagall 2018
Gaia
God
Haiku
Hope
Four words
at the center
of my blog cloud
Chagall 2018
Alphabet City 