POETRY FORUM

Variations of a Straight Line

by Bill Wolak on August 13, 2019 :: 0 comments

after a photograph by John Santerineross

Night is a wine that always
tastes of kisses.

Night is a promise
that only nakedness sustains.

Night is a cormorant diving deeper
into a turbulent river.

Night is the seventh tarot card
still wavering in your hand.

Night is the incomprehensible
solitude of lightning.

Night is an evanescent smile
passing like a streaking spark.

Night is a mirror of shadows
only breathing your hair.

editors note:

A fickle femme to sustain you through to sunrise, if you’re lucky. (See the pic which inspired this bit of ekphrasis here.) – mh clay

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A bit about Bill: Bill Wolak is a poet who lives in New Jersey and teaches Creative Writing at William Paterson University. He has just published his thirteenth collection of poetry entitled Love Opens the Hands: New and Selected Love Poems with Nirala Press. His poetry has appeared in over a hundred magazines. His most recent translation with Mahmood Karimi-Hakak, Love Me More Than the Others: Selected Poetry or Iraj Mirza, was published by Cross-Cultural Communications in 2014. His translations have appeared in such magazines as The Sufi Journal, Basalt, Visions International, World Poetry Journal, and Atlanta Review. His critical work and interviews have appeared in Notre Dame Review, Persian Heritage Magazine, Gargoyle, Southern Humanities Review, The Paterson Literary Review, Ascent, Florida English, and Prime Numbers Magazine. Mr. Wolak has been awarded several National Endowment for the Humanities scholarships and two Fulbright-Hays scholarships to study and travel in India. In 2007, he was selected to participate in a Friendship Delegation to Iran sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, America’s largest and oldest interfaith peace and justice organization. During the Summer of 2010, Mr. Wolak was awarded a Field Study Opportunity in China and Japan by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. He was selected to be a featured poet at festivals in India four times: at the 2011 Kritya International Poetry Festival in Nagpur, at the 2013 Hyderabad Literary Festival, at the Tarjuma 2013: Festival of Translators in Ahmedabad, and at the 2014 Hyderabad Literary Festival. In 2016, he was a featured poet at The Mihai Eminescu International Poetry Festival in Craiova, Romania; Europa in Versi, Lake Como, Italy; The Pesaro International Poetry Festival, Pesaro, Italy, and The Xichang-Qionghai Silk Road International Poetry Week, Xichang, China.