Final Act

by Ingrid Prohaska


His eyes were closed
he couldn't see her beauty
His ears were plugged
he couldn't hear her melody

"La Blanchisseuse"
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

His wings were clipped
he couldn't join her dreams
He hurt himself
and so he hurt her
he damned himself to a mediocre life

She opened her eyes
and had to see
that she filled her love in holey bags
She unplugged her ears
and had to hear
shallow rehearsed phrases
She healed her clipped wings
was ready to fly
but going to drown in her own tears

With her last entry
she had her exit to the right
silently she closed the door

Time for the final curtain

She let him in the spotlight
with the applause of the crowd

Copyright © 2011 Ingrid Prohaska


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Scene at the Edge

by Ingrid Prohaska

"Still Life with a Dead Peacock", Jan Weenix

I stood at the edge quite a long time
and couldn't see an answer.

Finally I did
what should be done
I pushed my dream into the abyss.

I felt relieved
for a few moments
till emptiness replaced my dream.

"What for?" I said
"The heck with it!"

And did one step.

The right one
or just one too much.

Copyright © 2011 Ingrid Prohaska



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The Fall

a dark poem
by Ingrid Prohaska

"The Triumph of Death" (Detail)
Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Dark sides
dark impressions
dark poetry

I feel that I fall
and I fall
I fall

Hands are reaching out for me
offer me their help
but when I try to take them
I have to see
these hands are bones
of dead
or undead
I feel the cold
and I'm scared

So I fall deeper
and deeper
deeper
into a universe
where the sun doesn't shine
and no flower can bloom
where tears freeze into sharp stones

An unknown land
without any light
where one can't see
and hardly breathe
dark feelings are stronger than ever

My inside cries

But in my scream
there hang the words
for me to hear

I will survive!

Copyright © 2011 Ingrid Prohaska


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