Michael Keshigian- Three Poems

MIDNIGHT ACTOR

Often at midnight I’ll go out to see
an abundantly clear sky
and its cast of starry characters,
playing lead roles
in their own dimensions.

I stare upward on a bed of grass
as the lingering heat of the day
penetrates cotton fabric
which covers my back.
The night quiet soothes me.

I venture to become part of the scene,
take my place in the universal drama,
a fragment of infinity,
belonging to an existence
greater than the value of man.

But the part overwhelms me,
the boundless stage is frightful,
space and time alter my perception
and as small a role as I play in the production,
I no longer feel comfortable with the script.

Abruptly, I rise
to return to the friendly lights
and secure surroundings of home,
happy to be a leading character
in a lesser presentation,

a star with gravitational force
in a personal galaxy,
aware that upon another midnight,
I’ll attempt to compromise my casting
in the grander scheme.



SPACE DIRT

In the living air
of bedroom darkness

a ray of sunshine
pierces the margin

of a drawn shade
and dust celebrates

with a dance
on the bottomless stage

twinkling like stars
in the lifeless corridors of space

floating amid empty tunnels
and illimitable holes

after an unparalleled boom
which resulted in particulate

with one minuscule speck
of inhabitants.


 
THE FIFTH LEVEL

The moment arrived
when I bridged the chasm
between chronological time
and the timeless holes of space
to bask in the wonderment
of stasis. Death kicked my rear
beyond the realm of mortality
toward the gangplank
over the sea
of chaotic debris
where the brave swim
in swirls of creativity
to shape floating potential
into radiance
singing human essence.
With a jump
I submerged into a void
of unlimited aesthetic possibilities
adrift upon Earth
and about the unfiltered universe.



Michael Keshigian’s ninth poetry book, Dark Edges was recently released this September, 2014 by Flutter Press. He has been widely published in numerous national and international journals and appeared as feature writer in over a dozen publications with 5 Pushcart Prize and 2 Best Of The Net nominations. (michaelkeshigian.com)