Old Christmas Revisiting

[on the Nativity of Christ the King]

dream sequence sequined you return again as
in old movies, to a harp glissando
to this drift of leaves

and this year's calendar
in red and gold comprising all others

or to old houses with the pantry stocked
and the cherry preserves falls unexpectedly
as if the angels announced their joy

not that mysteriously, entranced by
heavenly provisions here on earth;
or your pause, on entering a room

in this nativity

in a few steps descending a few stairs as
if you were eurydice
on an unseen stage still

capable of turning back
where there is Light
at the sheer beginning of  your myth

to rearrange the lines inside
your head and hope

that poetry will lead you
like the Star
to the more than decorative

silence, shine! out! from the dark
from the corners of your eyes
espied, the lilt,

the vivid Heart
of all things:
standing still

before-
in a hushed and snowy Hour,
this Miracle

flowering

all over again. Jesu.

mary angela douglas 10 november 2015

Penultimate Fairy Tale Collection Or Is It

you must have read all the stories by now you tell yourself
(or They do)
but something wistful says, there's more

as there must be since there's more of anything else,
more clouds, more ice cream, certainly, more rose bushes
and the Princess sighs almost distraught, self taught

in the King's own libraries.
whenever I rise in the morning mist
(she lived there, too)

I think there must be more than this

an ending more surprising than the last
with more fantastical pictures
as I want a dress to match what Will Be

additionally to What Was
be "if" velvet or not; oh, if you must
repeat yourself

then let it be yards of cherry velvet
or the shade of creme de menthe

spilling over into
little, silk lined poems.

mary angela douglas 9 november 2015

And I Was Sipping In The Cherry Dark

and I was sipping in the cherry dark
the whole summer as it first appeared.
the early years;

the golden tinge.
so much hinges on the fact that the  fairytales
did not surprise me,

seeming only an extension of our little house.

I will wear a cherry sundress
when I go back I notified the time machine
and set the dials for a little while

even if it's midnight,packing a picnic
and pinwheels streaked in pink and green;
viewmaster slides

of the Disney castle.

when I arrive,
I hope to find the right house.
you know, with the roof all shingled with candies.

and no oven.

mary angela douglas 6 novemer 2015

Black Cherry

black cherry in the dusk

sparkles and fizzes

(what's left over

that you didn't drink.)

and in the grass

or still playing in the street

the neighbor children linger

as if it were sweet

twilight's sequined birthday.

black cherry is the taste

of the cola in the glass;

the richest ice cream.

you would always choose

at last, on family vacations.

the screen door creaks

when you go on remembering

black cherry in the ladened cream

of a dream you're dreaming it again

perhaps your sister chided

wearing all her gumball machine rings

at the same time.

what rhymes with black cherries

is a black cherry dress you dream on:

a sash like moonlight

sleeves of pure lawn...

mary angela douglas 8 february 2015