Alec Kowalczyk
________________

 

Bon Vivant

sipping slowly
oysters on the half shell
his mouth swells with ocean

Quayside Gallery

From among his paintings
leaning against the Seine seawall,
he reaches elbow-deep
into the open portal
of a chipped, vacant frame,
retrieving some windfallen apples
casually cached there for his lunch,

shattering a still life.

Sinker

When they inundated the hollow
that was to become the Alcove Reservoir,
they left an entire village standing,
ancient clapboards sinking slowly
below the rising water,
houses, barns, outbuildings, bridle paths and boardwalks
fathomed out at 130 feet below surface level.

Makes you wonder
what the ghosts of that submerged village see:
a school of fish swimming indifferently down the lane,
some undulating light-dappled fronds,
and above—in their heaven,
the flat-bottom of a rowboat,
a fishing line dangling down it like from a kite,
and at the end of the line,
a leaded weight.

Copyright © 2002 Alec Kowalczyk

Bon Vivant and Quayside Gallery published concurrently in Gin Bender Poetry Review.