Sunrise:
my mountain is close enough
to watch her dance a fandango
with the rising sun.
She, with firmly embedded
elephantine feet uses the wind
to swirl her skirts
to the Spanish rhythms.
Noon:
blanched against the hot sky,
heavy, languorous,
leaning into herself
she is still, the music quiet, classic guitar,
each string plucked individually.
She listens;
waits for a breeze to rustle against her flank
to move a hip ever so slowly,
the feminine thrust of this monumental lady.
Evening:
beckons
with the setting sun
blazing above her distant sisters.
The sky explodes;
color splashes her, deepens her shadows.
She absorbs amethyst clouds, is draped in royal purple,
puts on her makeup for a night under the stars,
to salsa, to rock on, to dance
in the dark
to
Oye Mi Amor.
Poem by Charlene Moskal
I am a member of a vibrant arts community in Las Vegas, Nevada where I am a Teaching Artist with The Alzheimer’s Poetry Project and a Fellow of the New Jersey Writing Project. For three decades prior to moving to Las Vegas, I taught art, speech, and theater at the secondary level in public schools in Brownsville, Texas. I have been a visual artist, a performer, a voice for NPR’s Theme and Variations and always, a writer. I am published in numerous anthologies, magazines, e-zines, including, “The Esthetic Apostle”, “Multibilis”, “Dash”, “Chaleur Journal”, ”Helen” and “The Raven’s Perch”. My poetry chapbook, “One Bare Foot” has recently been released by Zeitgeist Press.