Thursday, November 10, 2016

The Day After the Day Of (POEM)

  By Paul Ilechko


The sky sheds its tears. This morning
is the morning of the day after. The
day of mourning, the day after the day of. 
I beseech the sky to shed tears in order
to wash away the tears on my face.


This is the first day of the time after. This is
the beginning of a new time, the days of pain,
the days of sorrow. We are in mourning. The
sky looks down and sheds its tears for us. We
are the sad and mournful people under the sky.


Under the sky, the rain washes away the
muddy streaks left by our tears, the dirty
streaks of sadness displayed on the cheeks
of our desperate faces. We are grateful to the
sky. We are grateful for the cleansing rain.


The horizontal rain lashes our weary bodies.
The sharp needles of the rain tear into our
soft and needy flesh. This is the time of a
new cruelty. The rain is in the service of the
new age. The rain is a tool of hate and cruelty.


The rage of the new day. The anger and hate
turning rain into blood. This is the morning,
the morning after. This is the beginning of the
age of suffering. We beseech the rain to leave
us in peace. The rain laughs in our filthy faces.


The rain laughs in our blood-stained faces. We
are the people of the days before. We are under
the influence of the rain, the rain of the day after
the day of. We are overwhelmed by the rage,
the hate, the pain, of the day after the day of. 

Paul Ilechko was born in England but has lived most of his life in the USA. He currently lives in Lambertville, NJ with his girlfriend and a cat. He has at various times been a visual artist (painting and photography) and a writer of short fiction, with some level of success in both fields.

Paul has had poetry accepted by Ibis Head Review and the Peacock Journal and short fiction works by Grab-a-Nickel and Xelas magazines. In competitions, he was a finalist at Glimmer Train, and a semi-finalist at both the St Lawrence Book Award and Narrative Magazine. He has participated in group art shows in London, England, as well as in Princeton, New Brunswick and Metuchen (all NJ)

Contact Paul at pilechko@gmail.com

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