two poems

by devorah major

 


inside the evening sky

i don't know the name
of the blues that shadow our path
one is sweet and light, a cool meringue
another sharp, but still
a third thick, pressing down upon the rest

cobalt they would say
of the uppermost-
a blue that hums deeply
a harmony of firmament
refusing clouds
denying stars
shining inside the cosmos
a forever blue
where life dies
and is reborn
an eternal blue
that exists above the storm

a blue that doesn't suffer discord
that would smile if it had a mouth
embrace if it was armed
comfort if it grew heart

but instead it arcs
a concert of blues
hovering over the earth
in an endless ocean
of impossible quiet
thick with blue beyond blue
a blue that disappears
when clutched in the fist
a blue that is
invisible and solid

 


 

on the day
Al-Mutanabbi
street was bombed

did you notice
how quickly the open sky
folded in upon itself

the flaking burnt pages
like torn moth wings
flying up the fetid smoke
then drifting
down

the broken teacups
and coffee stained saucers
the splintered chairs
empty shoe
splattered blood

and
just before
that moment

did you hear the
euphony of the street
as men wrangled
and summoned
swore and cajoled
addressed
if not solved
defined
if not created
the problems
and the promise
of their country's
tomorrow

did you even know
of the dreams imploded
inside the molten iron
across the narrow
book lined street
as debate turned
to barbed screeches
philosophy
into choked smoke
and a thousand
years of history
was buried in the rubble

or was there

nothing
except an inexorable
deadly silence

 


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