Old Works, Sheyna Land

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.