5 Poems by Alice Elizabeth Rogoff

Sesshu

Sesshu’s

black lines,

inking leaves,

limbs of trees

white spaces,

painting in a circle

snow on paper,

snowfall on paper,

feeling of harmony

in the winter sky.

Sesshu: Fifteenth Century Japanese Zen monk and artist.


Call It Bloom

The amaryllis

is three feet tall,

its red blossoms

beginning to open.

At the museum,

Georgia O’Keeffe’s

flowers bloom

on canvas.

In the conservatory’s gardens,

the tropical plants

wait to be

drawn.


The Train Across Canada

The train

Veering and winding

Through the mountain paths

The train drops down steep inclines


The tamaracks

Pines that change from green to gold

Shivers of needles

Translating


The frost

Settling


Through the window

The moon

Like a white dog

Howls melodiously

We sing softly to ourselves


Beyond the mountain paths

A native village

Beyond my sight.


Geometry Problem

White wolves

Howl on blank pages

On Montana mornings

And California switchbacks.

Coyotes roam

Urban hills,

Lovers roll in the snow

Creating angels.

Angels fly in the tree tops,

And sometimes I’m happy

As the night wraps

Its arms around stars and me.


 The Chagall Exhibit of the Bible
at the Jewish Museum, New York City

On the walls of the Jewish Museum,

Pictures of the animals

And the ark,

Like our life,

Our rocky voyages

Bouncing off Central Park,

Horses trotting by;

Doves will fly back,

And bring news of land,

Messages of hope,

Arriving together

At high school reunions,

Coupling on swaying boats,

Planning trips to

Archaeological sites

In Turkey,

We are suspended

On a point on top of

A hill,

The water seeping away,

Revealing dry ground;

Green pastures

Appearing.


Bionote

Alice Elizabeth Rogoff, originally from New Rochelle, New York, lives in San Francisco. She has an MA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Her poetry book Mural won a Blue Light Book Award, and another poetry book Barge Wood is published by CC. Marimbo Press. She received an Individual Literary grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission for a poetry project. She is a Co-Editor of the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal.