by Rochelle Owens
On the pale yellow wall
above the frame an apparition
piles of rocks the nomad’s camp
the village on fire
an unlit cigar in the fabulist’s mouth
the still wet brownish color
a smell of autumnal decay
In the galleries of Japanese Art
ambling meandering strolling
zigzagging zipping past
heads shoulders hands hips feet
rushing through unpainted space
a photo of a mushroom cloud
an asymmetrical form
an unlit cigar in the fabulist’s mouth
the still wet brownish color
a smell of autumnal decay
In the galleries of Romantic Art
joining the wedding feast
a tribal elder chewing hashish
a little boy eating a nut cake
a skeletal frame
the limbs spreading apart
cinnamon cumin and honey
savory the smoke of roasting meat
the clerk who is a fabulist
who calls herself Ezra
Ezra kicking the goat head
a goat smile on her lips
slender and elongated is Ezra
swaying from side to side
from her pocket springs a flower
out of the hole of Baudelaire
vomiting the bride and groom
long ago an hour ago
only a minute
strolling through unpainted space
a photo of a mushroom cloud
an asymmetrical form
autumnal ivy leaves
beginning above the frame
heads shoulders hands hips feet
piles of rocks the nomad’s camp
the village on fire
an unlit cigar in the fabulist’s mouth
the still wet brownish color
a smell of autumnal decay
Rochelle Owens, a frequent contributor to The New Verse News, is the author of twenty books of poetry, plays, and fiction, the most recent of which are Solitary Workwoman, (Junction Press, 2011), Journey to Purity (Texture Press, 2009), and Plays by Rochelle Owens (Broadway Play Publishing, 2000). A pioneer in the experimental off-Broadway theatre movement and an internationally known innovative poet, she has received Village Voice Obie awards and honors from the New York Drama Critics Circle. Her plays have been presented worldwide and in festivals in Edinburgh, Avignon, Paris, and Berlin. Her play Futz, which is considered a classic of the American avant-garde theatre, was produced by Ellen Stewart at LaMama, directed by Tom O’Horgan and performed by the LaMama Troupe in 1967, and was made into a film in 1969. A French language production of Three Front was produced by France-Culture and broadcast on Radio France. She has been a participant in the Festival Franco-Anglais de Poésie, and has translated Liliane Atlan’s novel Les passants, The Passersby (Henry Holt, 1989). She has held fellowships from the NEA, Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and numerous other foundations. She has taught at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Oklahoma and held residencies at Brown and Southwestern Louisiana State.
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