May 22, 2010
drawing by Slobodan Dan Paich and text by Moira Roth
Hanging on the clothesline
Was a dress made out of flowers and sprigs.
She put it on
And its scent reminded her
Of the taste of honey
–honey that as a child
She had gathered from the bees’ nest
In the orchard of her parent’s home,
Outside Prague.
She walked slowly toward the river,
Savoring the remembered taste
And her childhood memories
Of her mother reading to her
From Kafka’s “Metamorphosis.
May 19, 2010
drawing by Slobodan Dan Paich and text by Moira Roth
She had fallen asleep on the beach,
Sitting in the Chair of Memory,
And was bewildered by the distant light,
When she finally woke up.
Only slowly did she recognize it
–the dawn of a new day.
May 18, 2010
drawing by Slobodan Dan Paich and text by Moira Roth
Sitting,
With eyes closed,
On the Chair of Memories
He heard the cry of a raven
As he fingered
The painted leaf
Feeling
The shape of the Alchemist’s egg
Encrusted on its surface.
May 6, 2010
drawing by Slobodan Dan Paich, Internet image and text by Moira Roth
Sitting,
With eyes closed,
On the Chair of Memories
He saw
The park of his childhood
–the two great columns
of electricity and steel,
And behind the scented jasmine bushes.
May 4, 2010
drawing by Slobodan Dan Paich and text by Moira Roth
Just inside the Gate
Stood the Chair of Memories
Where visitors would sit,
Close their eyes
And dream of the past.
In one dream
A visitor found herself
Walking past a row of trees,
Listening to the Song of the Wind.
April 1, 2009
drawing by Slobodan Dan Paich and text by Moira Roth
He often did this–
sauntered through the labyrinth
until,
almost idly,
he found the exit.
It never worried him
Being lost
For a while.
He liked the solitude
Of the labyrinth.
He liked hearing
Only his own footsteps.
April 5, 2009
drawing by Slobodan Dan Paich and text by Moira Roth
She came along this path everyday,
Passing the old oak tree,
And heading toward her house
And its garden of pomegranates.
A humdrum daily walk.
It was only today,
Pausing to sing,
That she began to wonder
What lay below the path.
She began to imagine
A wheel below,
On which an uneasy structure swayed
And,
As she imagined this,
She heard beneath the ground a humming sound
Of the creaking wheel,
It was shortly after this
That she ate
The first of the three pomegranate seeds.
July 17, 2009
drawings and photograph of Armenian “shepherd” sculpture by Slobodan Dan Paich and
text by Moira Roth
She stood
At the window
Listening to the shepherd’s call
As the sun burst forth.
July 18, 2009
Internet images and text by Moira Roth
It was absolutely silent
In the Cave of the Seven Sleepers
Except for the sound of
The bats outside
Flying across the night sky.
July 21, 2009
drawing by Slobodan Dan Paich and text by Moira Roth
When he first saw it
He could not,
Literally
Believe his eyes.
It was only
When he passed under the arch
And felt the stone walls
On either side
That he believed
It was not a mirage.
Yet when he glanced back
It had disappeared.