Candles oblige me, light me back
to the sea, for at night I lose my way
if not for the sound of surf, the salt-spray,
I’d be lost, tossed about as innocence in the squall,
fragile bones amid limber wind, snapped barely alive
except for the thought of you buried deep,
the last seed of hope that I know I’ll sow someday.
© Chagall 2016
The lights are going out,
not forever – just for now.
We have coffee and tea,
we can make bread if need be,
sing, play cards …
Only for a little while,
only just for now.
© Chagall 2016
The night is crisp, autumnal.
Bourbon sweeter.
My son and his petite amie
at a friend’s cabin while they’re away.
With them, a bag of sweet potatoes
I grew and cured, for roasting
over the wood fire they’ll make.
Life is good.
Peepers sing earlier
than usual tonight. Harmonics from breezes
to trees to shape the glass arc of our ears
to blow gently in them.
I am yellow aged orange inflamed
dared to go red before withering.
I pray to the last gold ray of sun
there in the tall eastern trees
that refuses to say die to another day.
© Chagall 2016
The bug in the berry was
surprisingly deliciously
salty.
© Chagall 2016
Like air
it’s everywhere
you breathe
Morning is life
as much as light
polishes
Now seems
to work best
at times
But i don’t know what
i don’t know – is it only
martini? (i could – as you suggest –
rhyme that with blini)
A kiss for any monday
appears on your lips
till our lips meet yet again tomorrow
How pregnant
the pause and i am
postpartum
Now indeed seems
to work best
all the time
© Chagall, 2016
Conflicted today about what to write:
a new star born in the stingray nebula or
my father and I in a photo younger
than my children are today.
Astronomers say the star expanded due to a helium flash,
“…back to giant dimensions: the born again scenario.”
Through the Hubble telescope I can see my dad
swim upon ripples of time, breathe between strokes,
expertly gulping air.
Suns by day are stars by night depending where you are.
© Chagall 2016
The universe is staging
a trillion-photon march on creation
to show us how solidarity’s done
Anywhere that light is
that’s where you’ll find me
© Chagall 2016
Low-intensity
red stars
around us
everywhere
dim and unseen
The brightest
are fewer
but we see them
no matter how
far away
Yes they’re the first
to burn then fade
flickers at the rim
of time
Since Creation
there’s not
a smaller M-type star
that’s yet died
Chagall 2016
Keep moving
we must follow
every drop of ray
must fall – alight
make truer yet
the glow of our skins
we are all
beautiful people
in sunset
tomorrows
wax deliciously
like sunrise – all new days
that’s what hope
looks like blind
faith keeps coming
long the day after
angle me so
I can watch
the last fade
of the light
Chagall 2016
Alphabet City 