Two Sonnets

by Jeffrey Burghauser (November 2019)

The Conservatory, Henri Matisse, 1938

1

Ample casements in the corridor

Frame the glass conservatory’s L-

Angled roof. Approach. Peer downward, for

Through the heavy glass one’s gaze can pour:

Jaffa limestone flooring, bronzes, hell-

Colored blossoms, vines, the palms they grope,

Oil lamps as in a dream hotel,

Dad’s Hermès Ein Gedi-scented soap.

 

Lover, fix your gaze upon the sum

I’ve been long-bewildered that I’m from,

Just beyond that polished walnut verge.

 

“Welcome back, sir,” says the concierge.

 

Welcome?—who, exactly? Be precise.

You can’t step into the same name twice.

 

Pierre with Wooden Horse, Henri Matisse, 1908

2

Like the tip, cuts, shoulder of a key,

The sky is withdrawn, withdrawn again.

A toddler’s face shifts so radically

Its expression well within the span

 

Of a single word’s being plaited.

I wonder what green beans do all day.

Glossolalia: overrated

As orgasm, and in the same way.

 

I’d love to see a train horn’s precise

Impact: a cleanly cross-sectioned beet

Of startled babies & worried mice,

Puddle skins pricked by birds’ retreat.

 

In Heaven, all things cohere, we’ll find;

Or they won’t—but we won’t mind.

 

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Jeffrey Burghauser is a teacher in Columbus, OH. He was educated at SUNY-Buffalo and the University of Leeds. He currently studies the five-string banjo with a focus on pre-WWII picking styles. A former artist-in-residence at the Arad Arts Project (Israel), his poems have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Appalachian Journal, Fearsome Critters, Iceview, Lehrhaus, and New English Review. Jeffrey’s book-length collection, Real Poems, is available on Amazon and his website is www.jeffreyburghauser.com.

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