Poetry-Guest Page
Below
are some examples of poetry by friends and relations. This page will be changed from time to time.
Melanie Kathryn Black
Has had poetry published in numerous publications including MiPo’s Rosa Blanche Project, MiPo’s
Goya Arts Study Project, 2nd place winner in John James Juett Painting Challenge (write a poem inspired by his
paintings), Gunpowder Ridge Poetry, Quill and Parchment. She has also won two
honorable mentions from the Inter-Board Poetry Contest.
House
Fire
(some years ago there had
been a house fire right next door, leaving an empty lot)
On the lot which
is a meadow
is a ghost
of a house
crowding the
distance.
it swallows saxaphone sounds
and repeats
them in a blare
from a
basement that isn’t there.
Children run
through the lot
colliding with
concrete steps,
twirl in the
old lady’s dining room
so she has
to go upstairs.
There she wanders restless and tired
under oak
branches
between her bed
and bath.
When the weeds are long
And one can smell the faint charring
rise from
heated ground
a second
floor balcony shimmers
with
boisterous music.
Young heirs drink and smoke grass,
imagine that
whatever they have
is forever
in the meadow
In the ghost of a house.
Snapshots Of Indonesia
radiant
an iguana
licks lightning
children
trace the night with glow-worms
past clicking
bamboo that cracks and bows
to the
unseen gathering in pre-frontal shadows
small
fires
illumine a
cholera river
card
houses stack over paper bridges
tongues of
bright cloth cover yawning mouths
of homes
where frangipani sweetens sewer water.
candlelight
backdrops
this congingent world
leather
puppets silhouetted on silk tell stories
the veins
of brown eyes pulse with drum beats
blooms
sweat on the thin backs of laborers
a clove snake
curls into still air
jeeps with
grim faced soldiers pass
a man
jumps a puddle but still gets muddy
reflection
of
balconies in a swimming pool
foreigners
find haziness near the bar
laugh too
loud because they see two of everything
but always
miss the leper on the tour.
Prayer In Time Of Grace
I give you thanks for calm,
a placid sea from which gulls rise
and paint a prayer in the sky.
And for the boats reflected masts
in swirled and colored silk;
these are the crafts I’ve traveled
home to port.
I praise the storms that passed;
high winds and slashing rain
have cleared the land at last,
and though I hid with fear
I emerged from darkness into sun.
As I watch the pipers run on shore
and hear the whispering of waves,
I ask you this – may I not forget.
All © 2003