LILLIAN NECAKOV
Gabriel's Oboe
The days of kissing are over
there is music now
with
the sadness of walking out of step
no rustle of magpie wings in the garden
no reflection of poppies in your eyes
just a frayed sack of bones
and a whisper of memory in place of breath
under an anaemic ray of moon
lungs once swelling like the bellows of a gypsy’s accordion
tremble and flail
gasping for bruised air
and
there is music
unbuttoning my heart
letting loose shadows and the taste of walnut
wind, sea and bone
all that came before this republic of death
all that reminds me of regret, shifting continents
skin against skin
an archipelago rising out of a milk sea
cheeks marred by the geography of ruin
quiver against the frail light
where your gaze once raged
two coffins stand instead
smelling of cherry
and
there is music
endless, looping
orbiting
we listen
listen
until breath leaks into the mercy of night.
168 The Paris-American
The days of kissing are over
there is music now
with
the sadness of walking out of step
no rustle of magpie wings in the garden
no reflection of poppies in your eyes
just a frayed sack of bones
and a whisper of memory in place of breath
under an anaemic ray of moon
lungs once swelling like the bellows of a gypsy’s accordion
tremble and flail
gasping for bruised air
and
there is music
unbuttoning my heart
letting loose shadows and the taste of walnut
wind, sea and bone
all that came before this republic of death
all that reminds me of regret, shifting continents
skin against skin
an archipelago rising out of a milk sea
cheeks marred by the geography of ruin
quiver against the frail light
where your gaze once raged
two coffins stand instead
smelling of cherry
and
there is music
endless, looping
orbiting
we listen
listen
until breath leaks into the mercy of night.
168 The Paris-American
Lillian Necakov is the author of Hooligans and The Bone Broker (Mansfield Press) Hat Trick (Exile Editions) Polarioids (Coach House Books) along with several other titles. Her works has been published in Canada, the US, Europe and China. In the 1970s, Necakov used to sell her books on the street of Toronto. These days she works at the Toronto Public Library and runs the Boneshaker Reading Series.