jacob erin-cilberto, originally from Bronx, NY, now resides in Carbondale, Illinois. He has been writing and publishing poetry since 1970 and currently teaches at John A. Logan and Shawnee Community colleges in Southern Illinois.  His work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals.  erin-cilberto was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry in 2006-2007-2008 and again in 2010.
 

Ariel's Dark Wing


Plath me,
i'll turn off the gas
so we can both dream in vapors
of hopelessness
and maybe find a way out of the cavern
that is our craving for the bullet,
or the cut
or the madness of love suffocating a heart
transcending to a mind that wants to shut down
 
the towel is under the door
and it is safe
within the chambers of the gun
to touch the metal foreclosure
of life.
 
Plath me,
i'll turn off the gas
but explode into a fruition of contrition
for writing all the dark poetry
even i can no longer feel
 
Plath me,
and we'll Ted together
in a cradled bed together
exchanging worms

and calling them poems.
 




just one small lamp lit
 
 
laughing morning
subjective midnight madness
early a.m. blues catch me unawares
and i follow the moribund muse
into frothing dawn
the words covering a cold ground
like a mind in flux
poems open like dandelion drifters
trying to hitch a ride to completion
 
the smile in chilled reflex
saunters home with the descending moon
the poet drinks his coffee from a saucer
after all he has spilled most of his confidence there
 
and he's never sure the next dusk
will come to cast shadows on his desk
because his objective state of mind
finds doubt in his writer's drought
whenever there is less than half a star
 
in his insanely empty sky.
 
 
erin-cilberto
5/2/2014



Cold Proof
 
 
at a dark party
one poet
drank alone
imbibing memories
one drink at a time
holding the ice
because his heart felt
already so frigid he needed gloves to hold the glass
 
next to his broken vision
of forever.
 
 
5/1/14
erin-cilberto



Critique
 
i would say the feelings are pretty strong in your heart
but your presentation is a bit vague
i think your emotions have a few typos
that could be corrected

and sometimes you get a bit wordy
and should show with your actions

your kisses are delightful
there should be more of that

your organization confuses me a bit
and sometimes i am not sure where you are going with this

is your thesis "forever"
or just that you profess "temporary"
should i be enraptured with your tenders
or simply edit the pain that reads between my lines

i loved you before i read you
now i am not sure whether to objectively absorb your heart
or just make marks within the margins
of what you make me feel...


©2014 jacob erin-cilberto