Saturday, February 26, 2022

A MOTHER FLEES

by Jack Kristiansen

            after Marc Chagall’s Fire in the Snow (1942) 


"Fire in the Snow" (1942); Gouache on paper by Marc Chagall. Collection: Amy and Eric Huck, Lewisberry, Pennsylvania

 
It’s human  
to start fires 
and every so often 
people approve   
of villages going up 
in flame 
so tonight 
a mother flees. 
 
Like a statue 
that’s come alive 
just in time  
to jump down 
from her perch 
above the altar, 
a mother flees. 
 
Having awoke 
to the coughing 
of her child, 
their house flickering, 
a mother flees. 
 
No crown 
on her head 
to hold in place 
her flaring hair, 
a mother flees. 
 
The night’s gone green, 
the snow green, 
her clothes smoky green. 
Her calm dog 
waiting for her 
to catch up, 
a mother flees. 
             
No husband 
in sight, 
the angels gone 
in disbelief, 
left with a son 
to save, 
a mother flees. 
 
Her child 
too heavy  
to carry far, 
a mother flees. 


Jack Kristiansen exists in the notebooks and computer files of William Aarnes who hopes to move soon from South Carolina to Manhattan.  His new collection The Hum in Human is available from Main Street Rag.