Neil Ellman

Baby Talk

(for Grandma Gail)

How you speak to him

sentences

decomposed to syllables

then “a”s and “b”s

the babble of babies

now your

“g”s and “d”s

he wonders

at the movement

of your lips

the mindless sounds

he tries to imitate

but only gurgles in response

and then spits up.

Neil Ellman lives in New Jersey (USA).  He has published numerous poems in print and online journals in a dozen nations.

Neil Ellman

Clock of Destiny

(after the watercolor by Wassily Kandinsky)

Time is no matter

in the timelessness

     of molecules

     aimless

     spatial aimlessness

     no clocks

     numbers mean nothing

zero the some of its parts

hour-hand circles

      endlessly

      speed of light

      snails

              stop!

it is 3:00 pm        

somewhere

in a blink of the eye.

Neil Ellman lives and writes in New Jersey (USA).  He has published numerous poems, many of them ekphrastic, in print and online journals anthologies, broadsides and chapbooks throughout the world.

Neil Ellman

Ghost Story


A shadow wanders
Through the dusty rooms
Between old chairs
Draped in white linen
Passing a portrait of itself
Almost recognizable
Slightly turned
As if to look away
Wondering why it's there
Where it is
And who the others are
Who sense
The silent wind of eyes.






Walk This Way


The sun walked this way
Peeked around the side of the old church
Turned the corner
And entered the empty square
The grey statue changed to fire
Alive again.


Walk this way, it said,
And I did, and in its place
I was transformed to stone.