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WHAT TO DO WITH INTANGIBLES
Early morning, a little snow
teases the outstretched branches
with the help of the wind.
It is cold, but inside the stove’s warmth
cradles the recliner in the lamplight
where he reads poems.
His fingers, thick and calloused,
flip pages enthusiastically
as he notices the shape of his nails,
much like his father’s,
distinct half moons rising.
And like his father had done,
it’s time to contemplate departure.
One day, the stove unlit, will dispense
the damp aroma of creosote,
the book will lie closed
upon the arm of the recliner.
One day, a relative will enter
and acknowledge
that the house is empty,
no warmth, no breath, no poetry,
an indentation upon the seat
next to the book.
The change will go unnoticed
by the snow, wind, ice, and
those few crows meandering
for morsels upon the buried landscape.
He returns to reading,
the words delight him.
What would become of these joys,
he wonders.
Someone should take them.
NOVEMBER
Dusk comes much earlier now.
About a month ago
I could sit on my porch,
sip wine every evening
while watching the light
climb down the trees
to the crown of the lake
and place a loon there.
Then I’d observe the sun
gently tiptoe atop the water,
and absorb reflections of the landscape
from either side, that forest of giant pines
majestically guarding the shoreline.
Now, no more than my hand
in front of my face is visible,
dipped in darkness, gray and blurred,
it too slowly disappears.
While I slept,
night in its shimmering leather coat,
coaxed the loon away
and brought forward its black crows
that cawed incessantly until I awoke
to find the lake in a state
of translucent congealment,
the porch encased in a thin layer of white,
and at the window,
where the blinds were open,
the glass shielded a wall of darkness.
Longing to look out,
I could only see myself looking back in.
Michael Keshigian: Most recently, his work has appeared in Bellowing Ark,
Sierra Nevada College Review, Chantarelle's Notebook; Boston Literary Magazine, and California Quarterly,
among other written and online journals. He has two Pushcart Prize nominations, a Best Of The Net
nomination and has had six chapbooks published. He is a performing musician and college educator in Boston.
Email: Michael Keshigian
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