The Seventh Year

Poetry and Art book

Poetry and Art, 2019

Your coming seemed
like a summer afternoon,
made for tranquility and rescue.
The flowers carried on
soaking water from the vase,
replaced by new ones.

The minutes started
denying themselves.
How could you let me
forget the taste of a kiss,
but remember the clinching
cramps in my stomach?

Hardly breathing in bed,
keeping the distance as if
an electric wire were between us,
terrified of the touch
that repeated the pain.

Do I continue to see you
because there is comfort in familiar,
built over years,
which I am afraid to lose?

The wilted flowers suffer in silence,
dripping their colourful tears
on the white tablecloth.

The poems “The Seventh Year” and “Strauss’ Waltz” were written as a response to Ian Penn’s Art and read at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery (Jewish Community Centre, Vancouver) in May 2019.

JCC reading

At JCC with Ian Penn’s Art

poets

Celebrating 10 years with JCC – poets

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