1.

Morning began

In darkness

the hallway cold, antiseptic

no Seraphin chorus to chant salvation

no angels to comfort

just grey layers of grief,

the mind lost in useless

plans

leaves crisp and oiled

drift through linen sky–

your face hidden in the

warm Libran earth

where you rest–

await rebirth

I could believe in that paradise, but choose to

stay the long course

there is no justice when saints die.

Rain seeps through holes in the flashing

wells up in the arch of the throat

long years of pain smoldering

fires in the orange groves

Memories of men

lithe and graceful

Mandolin Guitar and Balalaika

accompany dark waves–

sea churns, sparkles

at surfaces of harmony,

breathes and curls its tongue

before it sighs,

slides back limp then

hails another ride.

Some waves are quiet,

tight and short

tumble slowly

shoreward–

others rise up in swells

bring up black sand, wood, bones.

3.

A photo taken

at the center of life

your radiant black hair

folded arms

muscled torso-

hands graceful

thick veins rolled beneath the fingers

of so many lovers

your hips birch slender

thinned at the branching

reached outward

stretching seeking.

4.

That warm September afternoon

with its bird-shell of moon

when you were

plucked apple ripe from earth.

Death presses hard

against the bones.

breath doesn’t come at all.

The men

lithe and graceful–

stray across the beach

wonder how the moon fell

why there is no music from

The breathing of the sea

Nina (Nanette) Yavel is a poet and short-story writer whose poetry has featured in numerous venues, has published in anthologies, art guilds, literary journals, and international publications–Beyond Words, Bitterroot, An anthology of International Poetry; Nassau County Poet Laureate Review, Suffolk County Poetry Review, The Paumanok Transition 2. She was awarded first prize for poetry competitions sponsored by Barnes and Noble, The Owl in Garden City, The Park Slope Press and The Mac Street Journal. She helped found the Poets of Well Being. Her short story “Pinocle Game” and poem “Eve” were included in Risk Courage and Woman, a prize-winning anthology which featured Maya Angelou and other woman writers. Nina is a Doctor of Clinical Psychology and has a practice in Greenport New York where she lives with her two ‘boys’, Chauncey and Finnegan.