May 2017
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.
The Crow
If ever I were
a crow
I would know
the reason
I am black
not the color
of snow
or plums
or salmon row
but black
as black
as the sun
behind the moon
and the stars
behind the sun
and empty space
beyond
but I could
never know
the reason
I am a crow
and black
any more
than I could know
why I fly
like a crow
from here to there
without a pause
where other crows
have flown
where I have never
been
but know I must.
©2017 Neil Ellman
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