Drunk
She was whiskey to him.
Swirling around him.
Curving over his tongue
and into him.
The wicked spiciness burned his throat.
Her smoky, Irish laugh drowned him
As she freed it to trip
Over her teeth and out.
Out into the open air, her laugh
Tumbled over him like an expert gymnast
(a flick of the foot to bend the ear, but
never misplacing a twirl to disrupt the rhythm).
She made him drunk with her dancing
Twisted, traipsing feet
Throwing up the hem of her skirt
Falling back onto the floor like stones
Cast by the beat of a drum
from an unseen neon jukebox.
Her scratchy voice tickled the corners of his mouth.
The bite of her wit aimed at confusion
And tried to chew the insides of his cheeks
But tasted like a tonic fire.
And he wanted another sip.
He wanted
one
more
sip.
Sitting With Vincent
Perhaps your ear was not a gift
for a young mademoiselle,
but a sacrifice to the muse,
payment in kind, bloody and pulsating,
in return for the beauty of sunflowers
allowed to escape from your brush.
How was it you managed to evoke such
a beautiful sadness, a luminous tragedy,
with such a happy color as yellow?
I have seen your self-portrait,
the stubble, the hollowed, ruddy cheeks,
the bandages and stoicism.
But feel as if that was the painting of
your shell, the landscape of your façade,
simply a picture of what other people saw,
a cold blade cutting against the grain
forcing the split of your talent
and your mystery.
How true is it to say that the sunflowers
were a more accurate portrayal of your soul?
That they were a portrait of
what you saw deep within yourself?
Ella Fitzgerald in Her Living Room
I find comfort in a downpour.
The sound of intermittent pings
is almost a sonata, lulling me.
If Beethoven played on tin,
it would sound like the rain on my roof:
drip
drip
drip
DROP!
His fifth symphony forming
puddles on the sidewalk
as I watch and listen
through my window.
About Jillian Phillips
Ms. Phillips’ work has appeared in NOTA and Cellar Door Anthology. Her short poetry collection “Reflections Made in Nature: A Pastoral Memoir” received an Honorable Mention awarded at the 2009 Sigma Tau Delta International Convention.
