New Poetry by Michael Keshigian

Tears Wrinkle the Leather Seats

 

Distracting myself 

at the window

of the hospital room,

the alley below matches

the bleak white walls

where we persist,

and, for the sake of sanity,

I attempt to set syllables

into lines of verse.

Thomas wrote

with passion,

“Rage, rage against

the dying of the light”

yet in this room 

a glum florescence

endlessly flickers in the face

of courage and strength.

What might we do

but acknowledge the optimism

of friends and strangers,

then scream in the dark essence

of our lonely chambers.

Sometimes, en route

to his bedside,

in the confines of the car,

with the windows closed

during summer heat, I sob

and keep on sobbing.,

knowing this season will end

more differently

than any before it.

- © Michael Keshigian 2022

Michael Keshigian is the author of 14 poetry collections, his latest, What To Do With Intangibles, published by Cyberwit.net . His most recent poems have appeared in Muddy River Review, Smoky Quartz, San Pedro River Review, Tipton Poetry Journal. He has been published in numerous national and international journals and has appeared as feature writer in twenty publications with 7 Pushcart Prize and 2 Best Of The Net nominations.