Two Poems by Michael Keshigian

SALVATION

He stood beside the window

and stared at a feathery cloud,

one in the shape of a beautiful woman.

The wind’s sighs 

became her warm breath

upon the back his neck

as he felt himself

bleed through the glass

like a forlorn ghost,

drifting upward for companionship,

glancing downward to notice

the neighbors’ empty yards 

drenched in abundant sunshine,

as he, at the moment,

floated radiant and satisfied.

He soared, her vaporous arms awaiting.

There was little he could do.

He traversed into a fantasy

that extracted him 

from a reality of deep melancholy,

salvation without warning,

triggered to diminish 

the angst of loneliness.

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, no 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.

Michael Keshigian’s twelfth poetry collection, Into The Light, was released in April, 2017 by Flutter Press  (https://www.createspace.com/7037872). He has been published in numerous national and international journals including Oyez Review, Red River Review, Sierra Nevada College Review, Oklahoma Review, Chiron Review and has appeared as feature writer in over a twenty publications with 6 Pushcart Prize and 2 Best Of The Net nominations. (michaelkeshigian.com)