Tag: Vincent van Gogh.

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Poetry

585 Trees by Stephen House

Painting by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
585 TREES

in the city i come from 
they want to kill 585 trees
for a golf course development
to bring money and tourists
          and the people of that city
don’t want those trees removed
for plenty of good reasons 
including wildlife and nature

i did some research this morning 
it was easy to do on my phone
about how many native creatures 
rely on one mature tree
        and it is somewhere between 
five hundred and a thousand 
who live in or visit that tree
for their survival

i won’t write any more
it’s all been said by those wiser
but if you investigate 
with the sums and figures
         you will quickly see
why the killing of 585 trees
is a terrible mistake 
and must be scrapped right now

Stephen House has won awards as a poet, playwright and actor. He’s received several international literature residencies. He’s published often and performs his acclaimed monologues widely.

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Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Categories
Poetry

Fall

By Mary Tina Shamli

Painting by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

            FALL

I love the fall. When 
Else is age admired 

And death coveted, 
The new despised, 

Rejected in the cold?
Cold heart, look at the

Leaves! Crisp and spent, 
Dropping in silence, not 

All at once, in turns, 
Scoring the hush of it all.

.

Mary Tina Shamli Pillay is a writer and artist based in Chennai, India. Her poetry and fiction have been featured on the BBC, Kitaab, Blink-Ink, the Borderless Journal, the Mean Journal, Madras Courier and the Pine Cone Review among other places. Find her on Instagram @marytinashamlipillay

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International

Categories
Poetry

A Kingdom of Sunflowers

By Ryan Quinn Flanagan

A KINGDOM OF SUNFLOWERS 

Let it be June, the 6th month in the calendar,
or perhaps one of the "embers" on the back end,
like a late surger at the track.  
You follow the betting lines, so you should know better.
That sudden swing in action just before post.
May as well linger in slotter's row, feeding the beast.
Sitting around waiting on the Super Jackpot.
The drink girl has three large hoops dangling from one ear.
She seems off-center, four smaller hoops through her eyebrow
on the same side.  She probably jingles when she's not making change.
Pulls this purple rescue inhaler from her pocket when she thinks
no one is looking.  Not the eye in the sky, or her boss with a voice
like a streaking dive bomber.  Let it be May, her grandmother's name.
All those hours of soda bread and Euchre. The wall of commemorative plates.
No simple diary pledge ever held so much weight!
Let it be August, a kingdom of sunflowers.
Sunflowers, National Gallery, London, (Painted in August 1888) by Vincent van Gogh, who did a series of paintings that month of yellow sunflowers. From Public Domain

Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage.  His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, Borderless Journal, GloMag, Red Fez and Lothlorien Poetry Journal.  

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Categories
Poetry

The Rain Was Laughing Sideways

By Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Rain-Auvers, Painting by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). From Public Domain 
THE RAIN WAS LAUGHING SIDEWAYS(2) 

Looking down into the box,
back on everything,
back through
that wonderful maze
of things.

And it seems
that the rain was laughing 
sideways.

Pernicious alligators
climbing up out of
New York bathrooms.

Though I have never been
the way of that buxom bridge.

Not once across the fancied millennia.

It's more of a faraway thing.
The teeming thunderous clap.

An inner drive
to ceremonial drums,
can you see it?

Back through 
through the alluvial plain
with a walking stick
of hungry crows.

To stand over dirty shave water
with that new face.

To smile 
like a king
of many well-kissed 
things.

Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage.  His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, Borderless Journal, GloMag, Red Fez, and Lothlorien Poetry Journal. 

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PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International