Doug Tanoury

Doug Tanoury was a Featured Poet in PoetryMagazine.com
in May of 1997. His work has also appeared at other times
in the E-zine. He is a member of The Athens Avenue Poetry Circle
and reads frequently in New York City.

Impatiens

The impatiens I planted
In June are withering
Their stems growing skinny
And gaunt like patients
In a cancer ward

But I am not ready
To let this season go
And cling to it like a
Yellow jacket traversing
A sunflower's radius

Through dandelion days
And topaz twilights
I've walked barefoot on
Lawns cut like jade
As cool as gemstones

I refuse to yield the season
Lifting a drooping blossom
Of faded color
Upright once again
To its June position

Orpheus In O’Hare

Under jaundiced light from recessed lamps
Conversations run incessantly
Like water in a fountain and
Blend with the unceasing whirs
Of jet engines and overhead pages
Too weak to hear like neighbor’s
Voices distorted and muffled by
Apartment walls

I am Orpheus descended in the underworld
Moving through the dull glow of Hades
Filled with spirits trapped and trudging
Aimless in corridors with terrazzo floors
As I search for Eurydice in airport
Lounges or standing at a payphone
Slipping one black pump on and off
Her foot

Nowhere To Sit

Today, I came home to empty rooms.
Stillness and silence lie on the rugs
Like an old dog reluctant to move,
And I am reminded
By the ghost of motion,
A spirit of sound, some spectral
Scent that still haunts these rooms,
As I stand in the presence of
Of your absence.

If memory were a ragged couch
Or worn chair I would carry
It out and set it by the curb,
Yet I cannot cast out phantoms
That possess this place and
Follow me about from room to room
Like a loyal dog, unwilling
To leave me unattended.

Today, at the door I was greeted
By your memory and paused
At the threshold a moment
To acknowledge you gone,
Like a happy fixture,
A friendly furnishing
That sat in my living room
For many years, now
Replaced by empty space,
As I wait in the presence of your
Absence, there is nowhere to sit.