Atmospherics: poems by Lorraine Caputo; art by Erik Kaye

By beagarth on April 12, 2018 • ( 1 )

"Brushstrokes XI v2" ink and watercolor by Erik Kaye, copyright 2013/2018

AS IF A DREAM

Deep in my sleep

the arrived storm sounds

like the roar of

the halted fan.

A crackle of thunder

shakes my walls,

awakening me

to rain pouring off the roof

into the inside patio

& dripping onto this floor.

The cosmic dance

continues to slam

into the approaching dawn.

Night turns into afternoon

with each lightning flash.

Torrents spill

into the garden,

forming a lake where

tables & chairs boat.

Finally the morning cock crows.

The storm rolls off to the east,

thunder marking its now-

distant passes. The sky pulses

less, a heartbeat fading, leaving

behind a gentler drizzle,

the river of rain gurgling

into the drain.

From the shadows

appears a toad

… as if it all

were a dream …

ONE HUNDRED MOMENTS OF SOLITUDE

One a.m. sky

sodium-orange-dyed clouds

creeping through alleys,

into patios, through

cracks of doors ajar,

around travelers asleep,

wrapped in weariness,

huddled beneath blankets

against the damp night

chill—I awaken

to this silence, able

finally to study, to draw

to work, writing these lines

& others, thinking

alone, in solitude

unawares of the approaching

dawn—the twitter of a bird,

the cold deepening

to my bones, through

wool shawl, alpaca sweater,

the footfall of two

in unison, a distant hum

of nascent traffic—& when

I emerge from my

contemplations, the yet-

clouded sky is now

paling blue-grey

above Bogotá

TRANSMUTATION

A few dry leaves

hang from tree limbs silhouetted

against the lilac-dusk sky

The air is cold

with the late autumn mist

It is still

with the quiet

of the approaching night

I watch this world

transmute

Its reality will soon

no longer be mine

I stand at the door

of my Self

and watch the scene

fade into dark

—————

Bio: Lorraine Caputo is a poet, translator and travel writer. Her works appear in over 100 journals in Canada, the US, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa; 11 chapbooks of poetry – includingNotes from the Patagonia(dancing girl press, 2017); and 18 anthologies. She has also authored travel narratives and guidebooks. Caputo has done over 200 literary readings, from Alaska to the Patagonia. For the past decade, she has been traveling through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth. www.facebook.com/lorrainecaputo.wanderer

Erik Kaye’s Real Autobiography: “I made a decision when I was in college that has defined my life. I decided not to pursue a career in Art until I first overcame a mysterious condition in my life that finally turned out to be Adult ADD. I thought I could just coast on secondary jobs, working in print shops and later, teaching English-as-a-Foreign-Language in Japan, until the inevitable completion of my real work, ADD-Busting. Which never came, at least not until now, that I’m in my 60s. But such is the way of art; painting is a solitary avocation that is as much about the transformative journey as it is about acquiring technical skill.” Erik Kaye is now a full time artist living in Hawaii. https://erikkayeart.wordpress.com/