3 Poems by Neil Ellman

White on White 

(Kazimir Malevich, painting)

And then came white
from the spectrum of the mind
in every hue and shape
all things both great and small
combined as white on white
infinitely bright
as if the colors of the universe,
the stars, all living things,
the air we breathe,
the length, weight and height
of light
were one—
and then came white
conceived and measured
by a single stroke
that turned a million colors
into white on white
and whiter still.



Transom 

(Sara Ludy, video)

Over the transom
to the other side
where light dances
to the rhythms
of another sky
more real than here
but less
more filled with sound
but quieter
than the passage
of a hand
across the eyes
growi darker
then brighter
as if we were travelers
from another world.


Tomorrow 

(Yves Tanguy, painting)

Somewhere on an anywhere street
the dogs of autumn, hungry for life,
lick the remainder of summer’s light.

It is Thursday or Friday, any day
with any address
at the beginning of any new age

the end where it began
like the coiled snake of tomorrow
gnawing at its tail.

Everyone is no one
every anyone without a name
the air is thick with irony.

We are what we aren’t
It is what it isn’t.
Yesterday’s tomorrows are gone.

Bionote

Neil Ellman, a poet from New Jersey, has published more than 1,100 poems in print and online journals, anthologies and chapbooks throughout the world.  He has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize and twice for Best of the Net.