Family Reunion

A Poem by Brian Le Lay

The evening burned around the edges.
Sunshine scathed our retinas.
We walked the cemetery paths.
 
With too much inertia, our eyes
Caught fire, and our hair.                        
We were visiting relatives
 
None of us having written letters,
Or wielding white flowers
Wrapped in napkins, or golden
 
Tourniquets, but shock when we saw
The headstone with identical
Birth and death dates.

Ten Shades of Grey

A Poem by Brian Le Lay
  
Our imitation mouths chimney semi opaque
Secondhand smoke in a glass of turbid water.
I give myself an insulting look shattering the image.
How do I make nine lives last forever?
Our skulls a little grayer, daydreams like days
Themselves angel dust in an ashtray.
Shadows dance inside keyholes.
I hope the phantoms are well.