Harmonic Fields
After Mary Lindberg playing Frederick Chopin’s Nocturne in E Minor at Guest House, a piece inspired by the Belcanto Melodies of Jonathan Fields.
broken chords scatter
falling raindrops course
across ivory keys
a white bird with black feathers
flaps its wings and rises
wafts lazy circles on evening
the setting sun sifts the light
a diamond beaked bird sails
toward red rimmed night
and I float on receding notes
into the vibrating darkness
that descends outside
***
Rusted Sonnet: Cento from My Own Work
perhaps my fleeting winter friends
rain soaked, too weak to beg, up the steps
black and white, cannot see grays
barely a mother
barely into late winter
our country controls the people
starving, no food and water
getting pregnant, a suitable avocation
slut, come get it for free
stolen lives
widowed two more times
speak in frost on the window pane
soothsayer, answer in wind and stars
perhaps the snow melting outside will conjure snow angels
***
Four Calicos: Golden Shovel
After: “On the steps of the Jefferson Memorial” by Linda Pastan
Found in the garden two weeks later, one patch of soft fur. Moved on.
A hunter told me he’d seen: one the, two the, three the, four the
four kittens, kicked off someone’s steps,
abandoned in our woods, he saw them Tuesday, a kind of
living trash, obligation refused, four “the”
no bigger than the fist of Jefferson.
Late Thursday afternoon, three babies found the house, caterwauling a Memorial
to no food and water. Not our cats, said my husband, chasing them away. On
Friday, down one calico, hunger brought back two squalling “the”.
By Saturday, rain soaked, too weak to beg, they climbed up the steps,
pressed noses to glass. I gave them milk. Phoned shelters. Not my job of
course, but the kits found me. The shelters don’t take cats. I took the kits to the
vet, she reported distemper in the litter. Named one, “Jefferson”.
They scarfed down two cans of food before euthanasia. Named two, “Memorial”.
First Published: A Measured Sense of Outrage: Anthology by June Gould Writers
Date Published: June 2019