Stan Galloway’s most recent poem to appear here was Onset of Winter (March 2012). Sana Khalesi has studied English literature in Iran, where she lives and has had her poetry published in Neveshta: The International Iranian Review of Literature. She writes in both Farsi and English. This is her first poem to be published in English. It is also her first collaborative poem.
Nocturne in C
By Stan Galloway and Sana Khalesi
Moving round and round in me,
defining and possessing me–
the night,
the night
awake
where I feel the things
the sunlight conceals.
In the night
the garbage can
becomes a crouching man
looking for a treasure
corpse
shoe.
It releases
the primal woman living in me
injured in light
but brave in nocturnal balm
to see
the woman-night.
I let myself go,
let my body merge with
all that shapeless shifting mass
that is the night’s spirit
and be finished
completely;
the night is where I disappear,
decomposed and reunited
with all things nameless,
all things silent and at peace–
most desirable night.
Lovely and rhythmic poem, like a song. Very impressive collaboration. Congratulations.
Great imagery. Great collaboration.
Alice and Bobbie, thank you for your kind words.