Tag Archive: poetry


Feeling Country Again

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I found your painted sweatshirt
in a box of your belongings
in the attic by the stairs
that fold on down.

And it smelled like Sunday morning
over coffee in the kitchen
before hope and our sweet life
began to drown.

I remember gentle kisses
up and down the ragged neckline
and the yellow on the sleeve
when it was new.

And the blue was like the starlight
coming through our bedroom window
on those crazy rainy nights
just me and you.

I fold it all away,
the shirt, the stairs,
the papers,
and tuck it in my mind
for another day.

So many colors,
a rainbow, a medley
of the laughter and the heartbreak
of our rooms.

© Chagall, 2013

Blunt Goodbye

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It’s late and so it’s time
to be plain

Pulse steady and eyes trained
on the target

I feel so long and lithe
and alive

While it’s fun to be obtuse
I think you should know

That before morning comes
I will die for you.

© Chagall, 2013

Star Rider

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I’m wholly depressed
under half-moon

and totally enthralled
when it’s full

I cast shadows
over fields

with the beams
at my back

as I gallop
along the ridge

on the steed
with intelligent eyes

warm, a tall seat
short, this cold night

© Chagall, 2013

 

Haiku For Lost In The Fall

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A trace of night mist
settles on the white birch boughs
Autumn calls you home

© Chagall, 2013

 

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In three-quarter time
we dance about shuttered rooms
spiral lost dark waltz

© Chagall, 2013

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Can you smell the pine?
Needles all about the ground
Earth is so loamy

© Chagall, 2013

Saturday Afternoons Are Incredible

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Wind through the trees,
Autumn –

or is that surf,
July?

I am northeast
and southbound
baby.

I need a jukebox,
an American Legion.

I prefer a good tap beer,
or a pinot noir from Beaune.

You can’t beat 3PM
for afternoon
delight.

although

noon, one

two, four, five

all have special meaning

Okay,
anytime
is right.

I adore
the produce aisle.

I do so love
losing my ticklish mind
undercover with you.

Keep a bottle on chill,
keep us moving forward.

© Chagall, 2013

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A hollow tube
filled with tones
and stars.

Icy blue
at the edge.

Nothing but
stars.

An expansive dome
shone with star-tone.

Dearest One,
Tonight tender doom?

No question!
Your Dear,
Dominique

© Chagall, 2013

 

For You, This Morning

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In the box she kept
more than the stubs,
the ripped ends of tickets
to everywhere.

The wood-frame held the scent,
and newness of old days:
the landscape and promise
of remnant years.

Buttons, and curls,
and postage stamps,
cancelled from missives
Par Avion

Assorted rings and tie pins,
a sonogram, a hospital bracelet,
a telegram from Iwo,
and even a dried, powdered navel
(I swear that this is true!)

Safety pins,
old Polaroids, a radiated dime
from the ’63 World’s Fair.

A small square swatch
of fabric for a living room
that never saw the light of day
through tenement windows

Mass cards,
an old token,
a rubber coochie coin purse,
and a faded picture
of me.

© Chagall, 2013

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It moves from me
in quiet froth
a verb
on a mission
efficacious

I would hurl
epitaphs instead
but they’re way too heavy
and oddly shaped
for effective
crisp defamation

In Italy
when the weather’s bad
they say
Fa cattivo tempo

So I say that
fast and over and find
some fleeting satisfaction

Warships aft,
life’s about to suck
and everyone is thinking
Frigate

© Chagall, 2013