by Nancy Smiler Levinson
I.
here lies Ray Bradbury here ‘our darling’ Eva Gabor
Natalie Wood is at rest in this garden spot
imagine a soft song near this rippling pool
where lies Miss Peggy Lee ‘music was her life’
August, the anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s
death her crypt festooned with glossy photos
daffodils and wreaths of roses white and red
draped in memory by her ‘Immortal Fan Club’
lush lawn porcelain flowerpots
camelias calla lilies mixed bouquets
rows of dense manicured hedges
slender spruce and pines skyward pointed
II.
there is no one here today, not a living soul
here a granite bench beneath a tree
this camphor tree so majestic wondrous
I sit sensing its life given by a mighty force
breathing sheltering with canopy’s whispers
embracing me with long, curved arms
branches as sturdy as its massive, braided trunk
I am a visitor here on this breathtaking earth
Nancy Smiler Levinson is author of MOMENTS OF DAWN: A Poetic Memoir of Love & Family; Affliction & Affirmation, as well as work that has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Poetica, Voice of Eve, Constellations, Sleet, Third Wednesday, Burningword Literary Review, The Copperfield Review, and elsewhere. In past chapters of her life she published some thirty books for young readers. She lives and writes in Los Angeles. Sally Lelong is a visual storyteller working in a variety of media that lend themselves to use in a conceptual framework. She lives and works in New York, and routinely exhibits her work in a variety of settings from print to thematic installations to street art.
