Same Art
by Sheyna Land, 2010
Long time no see, my friend.
No, you haven't been on my mind,
Rolling around like a bead in my hand.
Never do I
Wish I could pry open the frame,
Pull back the glass, and
Burrow through the pictures--
Steal back into our unsuspecting smiles,
Crawl into our carefree embrace.
I never look upon us -no, never!-
As an artist beholds his broken pieces
Blaming himself for putting it too close to the edge
Or for assuming its strength
Would withstand
the
Fall.
Tryst
By Sheyna Land, 2011
Upon the wall
Strange shapes did fall
Like children's sparklers spinning.
Their ebb and flow
Like waves did go,
First swelling up, then thinning.
These shadows cast
Did move so fast,
Like evanescent streamers.
So queer a sight
In candle's light
Might turn us all to dreamers.
Closer I crept
To further inspect
The place these forms did hallow;
When then, found I
A lonesome fly
Dancing with its shadow.
When I Still Feel You, 2011
By Sheyna Land
When I still feel you most
Is when I
don’t.
Afterward, it’s the stillness.
The quiet
Like houses after holiday
When the faces have gone,
their laughter sticking in the air like the
Crimson stains in leftover goblets
This one has
a
crack
When I first felt you, it surprised me, like
The throng of a party in
the kitchen
The belly of the house
Life jumping all at once, like a gale of laughter at the table
You are not gone
You are just still
You couldn’t come to the party. We understood.
But we will come to you.