PERSISTENT
DAYLIGHT
by
Michael Keshigian
He was caught in
an endless day,
persistent
sunshine, no darkness,
a day that curdled
green leaves
falling,
rotting upon dried
lawn
spotted with
insects desiccated,
fragile carcasses
littered
beneath the lessening
shade of trees.
He walked between
sagging sycamores,
crossing the
street,
asphalt which
singed his soles,
his face aglow,
burnt to a crimson
hue,
on his way to the
river
where others must
be waiting.
Soon he will swim
under the soundless sun,
water easing his
burns,
submerged in the
cascading current
in order to
survive this day without end,
dressed in a white
shirt and shorts,
a luminosity that
mimicked the sun
as he approached
the shoreline
where the crowd
swam,
he whispering how
the sun
became a threat,
that all will
suffer then dry,
so we must sing
before our remnant
ashes disperse,
that an earnest
song
will bear us wings
to embark
on our journey
from earth,
for due to our
negligence,
the rules have
changed
and our bodies can
only go so far.
Michael Keshigian is the author of 14 poetry
collections, his latest, What to Do With Intangibles, released by
Cyberwit.net. Most recent poems have appeared in The
Comstock Review, Blue Pepper, California Quarterly, Misfit
Magazine, and 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 3 Best Of The Net nominations.
Bernice Holtzman’s paintings and collages have appeared in shows at various venues
in Manhattan, including the Back Fence in Greenwich Village, the Producer’s
Club, the Black Door Gallery on W. 26th St., and one other place she
can’t remember, but it was in a basement, and she was well received.
