Three poems by Joan McNerney

Three poems
by Joan McNerney







Blue your eyes


Blue your eyes

this edge of snow

in silent sky.

Brown eyes soft

tree bark patterns as

yellow flicks

sparkle in wintry sun.

And now it seems

your eyes are green

green as spruce

turning to grey eyes

glancing across as if

from a mountainside.

Your eyes two violets

hidden beneath frost.

Close your eyes

as sleepless stars

glide through night

in aerial ballet.

Black coal eyes

glowing on fire

red flames leaping

out of eyes burning

blue your eyes.

====================

Jazz


the kitchen sits

in fruit soup...

steamed apricot

mango shadow

down thru spinning

smoke into hot light

blink beat

body ends dangle

lead eye skin cement

high on tongue

night pasted among

buildings Styrofoam clouds

moon hung beneath billboard

rolling pass wet

rocked streets

soul tramp

diamond panhandlers watch

paper birds slices of

the daily news drift in air

comes cool ether

whispers up door

climbing dusty corridor

tree windows lapping lisp

door slams again noise again

then none void nothing syncopates

noise again door slams tree bare frozen

caught in the image of 7 candles

within 7 candles flames of air

7 light bulbs growing out of each other

7 silver circles coined from 7 silver rings

clear as blazing sheets

of glass yet

vague as dust

an ice cube on wood table

in front of crushed velvet

melt

poured

peeled

when this sky now boiling with

stars is strapped black

in pinched air thru sucked mind

swimming pass spaced time

will be one silent

note up.

++++++++++++++++++++

Wintry Bouquet


This December

during wide nights

hemmed by blackness,

I remember roses.

Pink yellow red violet

those satin blooms of June.

We must wait six months

before seeing blossoms,

touch their brightness

crush their scent

with fingertips.

Now there are only

ebony pools of winter’s

heavy ink of darkness.

Dipping into memory of

my lips touching petals

tantalizing sweet buds.

My body longs for softness.

I glimpse brilliant faces of

flowers right before me as I

burrow beneath frosty blankets.

Bracing against that long, cold

nocturnal of wind and shadow.


Author bio:

Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary magazines such as Boston Review of the Arts, Kalliope, Mudfish, Spectrum and Word Thursdays. Four of her books have been published by fine literary presses. She has performed at the National Arts Club, State University of New York, Oneonta, McNay Art Institute and other distinguished venues. A recent reading was sponsored by the American Academy of Poetry. Her latest title is Having Lunch with the Sky, A.P.D. Press, Albany, New York.