August 2023
Bio Note: I’m a retired English Professor and live with my wife in Northern New Jersey. My poetry collections A Matter of Timing, Time is Not a River, and Morning Calm as well as a chapbook, Jack Pays a Visit, are all available on Amazon
Quote of the Month: “It’s important to capture a poem in the moment, like photographing a bird before it flies away.” – Joan Colby
Author's Note: I first encountered Joan Colby’s poetry here on Verse-Virtual. Joan said that she worked "anywhere a poem would strike”. I greatly admired her work, and through Verse-Virtual we became friends and corresponded until her death.
Quote of the Month: “It’s important to capture a poem in the moment, like photographing a bird before it flies away.” – Joan Colby
Author's Note: I first encountered Joan Colby’s poetry here on Verse-Virtual. Joan said that she worked "anywhere a poem would strike”. I greatly admired her work, and through Verse-Virtual we became friends and corresponded until her death.
After She Flew Away
for Joan Colby (1939-2020)
Stripped of color,
trees, like war weary widows
cover their limbs in black.
Bereft, they shake
when the wind
rattles the windows
and winter’s bony fingers
rap-tap on the glass.
On the desk top,
poems left behind—
some unfinished
or like an ancient
language,
simply forgotten.
Quiet moments stretch out
for days, weeks, and months.
Teacups, cubicles, an armchair,
a missing plate
at the dinner table—
A single strand of hair
caught in a brush,
a scented scarf,
an open letter
folded twice,
upon the indent
of a pillow.
©2023 Michael Minassian
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL