Eating Red Velvet Cake With Premium Icing Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

eating red velvet cake with premium icing
my guardian angel smiled stickily-
scooping fresh lilies from the clouds…

It's no use having that shimmer of expectant wings
I said, breaking the news as kindly as I could-
I'm not a painter;

and no one's painting anymore the Madonna
standing tiptoe on Pink tissue clouds
while gazing straight up into unseen starlight
by a glittering residue in her oval face, surmised…

you could try, fluttered my angel
forgetting the Christmas clothes again
that gathered crumbs but
trailing the late spring light, nostalgically-
start with crayons.

or a simple easel with a temporal sun.
(you mean, tempera, don't you)
you know, the one in the corner of the page
you painted first, letting the colors run:
dressed in pure marigold by your Grandmother,
on your brightest day away from home

it seemed to you the house outlined in green
with a rose rose roof
could be played in, Infinitely…
I know how you feel I said-

but the angel cried into a cloud in the
late sun, losing light
don't be afraid don't be afraid
sad earth away from Christmastime;
what a waste of iris blue was set here in the
firmament the angel mourned not to be comforted,
it seemed-

perhaps, they'll start again
softly I strummed the gathering twilight, overcome-
or the light mist falling suddenly-
they could remember (after school
or the last job interview falls through-
or the last three red potatoes drop - unexpectedly-
one by rolling one on the subsidized linoleum) -

that once, there were harps…

mary angela douglas 25 september 2012