Thursday, June 20, 2024: Carole Mertz's " Night’s Thinking Moves Through Shadow" and "Ashes"

Night’s Thinking Moves Through Shadow

anchoress sits

darkly through night

no help proffered

nor sought    she wants 

tranquility

 

clouds waft o’erhead

winking thoughts in-

ward    raking through

bad memories

 

she spies stylus

resting in her

wrinkled white hand—

resignation

 

let them bring her

to task    ask what

they will    shift toward

celestial quests

 

at last    a cloud-

break    a summons

a washing   and

eternal rest

© 2024 Carole Mertz

                                                                                    © photo by marie c lecrivain 

Ashes

 

It was the crossword that requested

The stuff the Hibachi left behind

 

It was the stuff we saw on the windy

mountain top, trees blackened and sordid-

 

looking—nothing appearing as it should 

be. Squalor there to match the downfall

 

of cities. It was the stuff you tried

not to think about after the cremation. What

 

to do with the remains. How to make 

sense of it all. And this stuff that we are,

 

hopefully of more substance than dust. The

stuff we will become, soon enough. 

© 2024 Carole Mertz

Carole Mertz, critic, poet, and essayist, enjoys working in her garden while contemplating the hardiness of weeds and the fragrance of beautiful flowers. She is the author of Toward a Peeping Sunrise (Prolific Press, 2019) and Color and Line (Kelsay Books, 2021), a collection of ekphrastic, and other poems. She is a multiple Pushcart Prize nominee.

Friday, August 11, 2023: Carole Mertz's "Renata at the Piano"

Au Piano, Romaine Brooks (USA) 1920

Renata at the Piano

        

(On Au Piano, Romaine Brooks (USA) 1920)

 

Her eyes downcast, her hands spread rigidly taut,

her somber expression hidden within the notes.

Oh dear! a memory slip, forgetting what she thought

she knew so well. Ah! now again the music floats

as she wanders blindly, with much embellishment.

With each repetition of Marche Funebre she earnestly strives

to speak Chopin’s darkly Romantic intent.

At a laborious and unlikely first ending she arrives

but now must perform a da capo without mistake.

Oh, hidden agony for this accomplished player—

there’s no intermission, no time for her to take

a rest before performing her feverish final and improvised layer.

Her hand muscles serve her better than her brain.

No escape—till the last note, au piano she must remain.

© 2023 Carole Mertz

Carole Mertz, poet and essayist, is the author of Color and Line, a collection of ekphrais and other poetry (Kelsay Books, 2021). Her poems also appear in Adanna, Al-Khemia Poetica, Quill & Parchment, Riddled with Arrows, The Ekphrastic Review, and elsewhere. Her chapbook Toward a Peeping Sunrise is a best-seller at Prolific Press. Carole resides with her husband in Ukrainian Village, Parma, Ohio.

Friday, November 18, 2022: Carole Mertz's "For Beloved Family Members Who Skate Around the Perimeter"

For Beloved Family Members Who Skate Around the Perimeter

For those who wake to make breakfast quietly for the rest of the family

For those who keep troubled thoughts to themselves

For those who desist before complaining about the job undone

There is something you’ve learned that I’ve yet to learn

For your patience in waiting

For studying and sometimes marking time while waiting

For those addressing difficult dilemmas

without condemnation, while searching difficult answers

For you, who have fallen many times, and still get up

and sometimes try a new road

For you, stumbling in a new career

For you, taking chances

For you, enduring loss

For you who charge, sail, and dive

into churning waters

For you who skate around the perimeter

searching for the center

tasking yourself to unravel your business acumen

and discover unknown strengths

For you who extend your hands to lift another up and work

on worldly matters that confound

For you who scatter and then gather, for you who dare

to share. For you who leave the perimeter to embrace the center

For you who sit in a room alone with ease

For you who rebut injustice

For you who strive, rest, and laugh

For you who wait for the sunrise peeking over the hill

© 2022 Carole Mertz

Bio: Carole Mertz writes prose and poetry in Parma, Ohio. She is the author of Color and Line (Kelsay Books, 2021), a poetry collection, and is book review editor at Dreamers Creative Writing. Carole is a Pushcart Prize nominee and has published poetry with Abandoned Mine, Eclectica, Poetry Quarterly, The Ekphrastic Review, and elsewhere.