Two Poems by Neil Ellman

Uncle Joe

(after the painting by George Condo)

 

Being who I am is one thing

trying to be another

impossible—

I am what I am

the unrepentant me

who stumbles home

at dawn

hurls stale soliloquies

at the rising sun

and falls flat-faced

fully clothed

on the lawn

dreaming of miracles

another drink;

for better or for worse

I am the profligate son

of the universe

with as much a right

to my half-pint

of destiny

as any other man—

don’t preach to me

don’t sermonize

don’t tell me

how to live

my life.

Battle of Lights. Coney Island

(after the painting by Frank Stella)

 

I

 

It is here

along Surf Avenue

where the freaks of summer

showed off their alligator skin

fat bellies and beards

the pin-headed men

rode the Tornado

and black-habit nuns

fell from heaven to earth

on the Parachute Jump.

 

II 

          

Under the boardwalk

I didn’t know her name

nor she knew mine

we saw chrysanthemums

and crosettes

explode among the stars

and felt their heat

in the sand

beneath our feet

a battle of lights

that would not go out.

 

III

 

Coney Island light

I knew you when

I saw you battle

for my soul

and now I know

it was then

that I was lost.

 

 

Neil Ellman lives and writes in New Jersey. His poems, many of which are ekphrastic and based on works of modern art, appear in numerous print and online journals throughout the world. The latest of his eight chapbooks, Double-Takes, is available as a free PDF download at fowlpox.tk.