.

.

“The Meaning of the Blues,” by Christel Roelandt

.

.

Alone

Halyards play jazz
snapping rhythm
against sailboat masts.
Floating docks moan.
The sloop rocks.
Me? ….Hollow in the shadow
of angry words flung I hum
a sad Billie Holiday song.

.

 

.

 

Song

Does the caged bird sing
……………………………………….of loss
of sunshine and breezes
……………………………………..of light
of green shadows scented with blossoms
a lilting ballad …..Billie Holiday blue
a yellow memory?

 

.

.

___

.

.

 

 

photo by James Archbold

Kathryn MacDonald’s poetry has been published in literary journals in Canada, the U.S., England, and Ireland. Her poem “Seduction” was short-listed for the 2019 Freefall Poetry Contest. She is the author of  A Breeze You Whisper  (poems, 2011) and  Calla & Édourd  (fiction, 2009).

Website:  https://KathrynMacDonald.com

 .

.

___

.

.

 Christel Roelandt is a Belgian painter from Ghent in Flanders. Since 2006 she has lived by the Mediterranean in Beirut. Her work focuses on the human form; faces and nudes, and finds inspiration by all things beautiful and often by books, music and films.  

.

.

Listen to a 1952 recording of Billie Holiday singing “If the Moon Turns Green” (featuring Charlie Shavers on trumpet)

.

.

.

.