Contributor: Neil Ellman

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(after the painting by Roberto Matta Echaurren)


Incandescent bird
no wings
no face
nature phosphorized
quivering quickening
in the air
shaking out its feathers
taking flight
glows
from pain to hope
to soaring heights
preoccupied with youth
grows old
to die again
in flames
oblivious to death.


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Twice nominated for the Best of the Net, Neil Ellman lives and writes in New Jersey. His poems, many of which are ekphrastic and based on works of modern and contemporary art, appear in numerous print and online journals throughout the world.