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| Marc Zegans ( Left) |
Poet Marc Zegans writes,
"I was 2010 poet in Residence at Bascom Lodge, a 2004 writer-in-residence at Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes, California, and I enjoyed a fine run from 2010-2013 as Narragansett Beer’s first Poet Laureate.
As a spoken word artist, with a penchant for immersive theatre, I perform periodically with the New York Poetry Brothel under the nom de plum, Bellocq C. Obscura. My first spoken word album, Night Work, was released in 2007 by Philistine Records, and my book of erotic senryu, Pillow Talk, appeared in 2008 (G.Spot Press). My second album, “Marker and Parker,”performed and recorded with legendary jazz pianist Don Parker (2010), is featured on Tiny Mind Records. My latest collection of poems, The Underwater Typewriter, will be released in September 2015 by Pelekinesis Press.
My poems have most recently appeared in Wick, Lyrical, and Ibbetson Street. My poetry website is MarcZegans.com. "
Provisioning
she let out a fractured cry
from this ancient crust body
legs purple from toe to knee
lighter than her nightgown now
complete congestive failure
a fact in seven hours
but here, now, was life
in defiant excess
hurtling up from her gut
in a mother’s terror now
of abandoning her child
an adult of no merit
who was somewhere distant now
as the rage to live burned low
deprived of fuel, not desire
in this devoted mother
her husband of six decades
tossing on his creaking bed
praying that she be quiet
knowing silence was the end
"It’s ok to let them go"
I said, holding her frail hand
As the New York sky lightened
in her South facing window
"And me too,” I said, “me too.”
“And what about the children?”
“They will live and remember.”
“Who? Who will they remember?”
“You. They will remember you.”
“Are you sure that this is so?”
“Yes. It’s alright to let go.”
“They will not hate me for it?”
“No, You have done well by them.”
“They will not die without me?”
“They are strong and will live well.”
“I’m not so scared now.” She smiled
squeezing my hand in the dawn
eyes closing for the first time
in this night of lost demons
and final dispensations.
marc zegans, december 2017
