33
No one visits
Old man shelved in 33,
Family turned to dust
Joined the stars
Few years ago.
He watches
Standstill as
Frozen grass,
Fretting the rats
Would steal
His seed cast
For beloved Robin.
Old man in 33
Knows Winter Robin’s
Peculiar ariosos:
Half steps down
Two-at-a-time,
Minor leaps thrice,
Clicks a-four to bar,
Roulades at eights and nines.
Winter robin
Raptured by ample seed
Cracks husks
Leisurely despite
Bottomless freeze.
Old man in 33
Keens for his
Beloved’s arioso but
Swoons, keels, evaporates
Into cirrus-studded sky;
His benediction:
A crackle of husks,
A woof of wingflap,
Winterwind’s glacial heave.
Rainey Park, 2018
Eastriverskin etches
Mathematical formulae
Upon undulating aquaplane.
Maxima, minima,
Abscissa, ordinates
Integrating, deriving
Functions multivariate
Convergent, Divergent
Infinities and finites,
Colliding constellations
Of mathematical vectors,
Reform to north zero direction.
Our plane, a mutinous
Mutating mathematical
Choreography too rich
Compared to the infantile simplicity
Of the vector sum of those outside
Our criss-crossed planeskein.
Yet all dissipate as riverskin
To creek, marsh, prim-
Ordial slime, ooze;
Earthen death husks’
Sheening, refracting, redacting
Live billions under thermo-nuclear star
To Dusk’s mercuryslipsilveredslatebluestone-
Antiquedbrassgoldenaquamarineinkstain’d fringe.
Christopher Sahar is a musician who enjoys writing poetry as an avocation. Born and raised in New Jersey, he received his B.A. in English from Oberlin College and his Master’s in Music Theory and Composition from Queens College/City University of New York. He resides in the Astoria, Queens section of New York City, where he works as a church musician, educator, and occasionally earns income from music compositions and free-lance writing. A composer, his works have been performed both in the United States and Europe, and he has written a libretti and lyrics for operatic and vocal works.
Sparks of Calliope 