POETRY BY STEVE EMMA

"SEEING FROM AN
UNPROTECTED PERSPECTIVE"


 
Self-Published 1991 
A Limited Selection from a Book of 34 Poems

Night creeps up
Black onyx cake
Millions of shrill whistles
Infinity in a pool of cool water
Wedding chimes of ringlets
Ring on the silent surface of the sky.
Nature is feasting.

 

 

 

 

The early morning rises
Losing its silence
Acorns drop from a tree
(The squirrels are busy)
A dragonfly darts erratically
Hoping at this early hour
To find a spot of sun
The voice of the first crow
Is lost in the stirrings
And twitterings of finches and sparrows
In the houses most of the people
Are still asleep
My neighbor (a thin old man)
Will be walking by
He'll tell me about his son
In hyphenated speech
Who's doing well in California
He's proud of him
Son of an immigrant.

 

 

 

 

How utterly beloved
behind the furniture
dust collects
and you brood
misshapen
tortured by boredom
utterly devoid of love

 

 

It's early
I'm wide awake
Anxious for the day to begin
The noise and bustle
Of the coming day
Is already in my ear
And like a hungry animal
Lying in ambush
I wait for prey
That never comes

 

 

 

A sea of madness rushes by me
in words on wrinkled brows.
Yet certain words
stick in my throat.
Damn! The sunny side of the moon
has turned into a shiny pebble
and rolled downhill.
In the sink a slice of soap
plays moon floating
in a dirty water sky.
Damn! Nothing prepares you for life!

 

 

 

The wind blows
    The leaves of the Aspen tremble
The bones of the gull
    Are brittle and white
And each rock
    Stacked and unbalanced
Is unhurried
    In decomposing

 

 

Someday I will bury my dreams in damp earth,
    dreams nurtured in endless love.
Someday my shadow will grow larger than myself
    and I, once thin-skinned, will turn to vapor
    and will disappear with setting sun.
Someday all my wise tenderness
    will bloom into irrationality.

 

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©Steve Emma 2002

Sculpture