July 2016
Neil Ellman
ellmans@comcast.net
ellmans@comcast.net
I am a poet from New Jersey, which almost seems a contradiction in terms, but the state has an active and renowned artistic community. Having published more than 1,200 poems, many of which are ekphrastic, I have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and the Rhysling Award. My latest chapbook, Mind Over Matta (Flutter Press, 2015), is based on the creations of one of my favorite artists, Roberto Matta Echauren, a Chilean abstract surrealist.
Through Birds, Through Fire but Not Through Glass
(after the painting by Yves Tanguy)
(after the painting by Yves Tanguy)
All that can be seen through glass
is what there is:
a family walking in the park,
a passing automobile
the shapes of snow
and falling autumn leaves
a face you know
in the world you know
predictable, unequivocal
in its permanence
but through the eyes of a bird
and in the licks of a flame
there are other worlds
with other shapes
as nameless and soundless
as brief as their lives
in the shape of the wind
and the cast of their light
they are as familiar as strangers
in an early-morning dream
as firm as their breath
on a window pane
and as real as the passersby
through glass.
is what there is:
a family walking in the park,
a passing automobile
the shapes of snow
and falling autumn leaves
a face you know
in the world you know
predictable, unequivocal
in its permanence
but through the eyes of a bird
and in the licks of a flame
there are other worlds
with other shapes
as nameless and soundless
as brief as their lives
in the shape of the wind
and the cast of their light
they are as familiar as strangers
in an early-morning dream
as firm as their breath
on a window pane
and as real as the passersby
through glass.
©2016 Neil Ellman