Paul Ilechko

Portraits from Life

Remember that day in the portrait gallery
those numinous faces     each one so 
expressive     and remember that it was 
the hour when children were playing 
outside     we heard their distant screams
and laughter     beyond the distorting 
panes of ancient glass     out there 
in the winter light where naked branches
would have cast their abstractions 
across the playground     it must have
been January     the cold was the most 
intense it ever got that year     even the geese
had disappeared     a day of circumscribed 
light that still shone with a hard brilliance
and those children who were most tormented
would try to hide beneath that pitiless
glare     blending into the patchwork 
shadows cast by the naked trees     waiting
quietly for evening to arrive     waiting 
for the day to collapse into shards 
of memory and pain     all swept away
by darkness     and we     knowing nothing 
sank into the ephemeral thrill of chiaroscuro.  

Poet and songwriter Paul Ilechko lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ. He is the author of several chapbooks. His work has appeared in a variety of journals, including The Night Heron Barks, Feral Journal, K’in, Gargoyle Magazine, and Book of Matches. His first album, "Meeting Points,” was released in 2021.