Poetry And Art by Kiley Lee, Part I

Featured Artist Kiley Lee is an accomplished artist as well as poet, and works in a variety of media. Today she shares the first of a series of artworks and poetry.

Queen of the Valley (11×14″, ink and crayon on cold press)

The Sweet Singer (originally published in Marias at Sampaguitas)

O, David, give me your heart
Cut your hem of cloth
and break my leavened body
before the earth
Tempt me into transformation

Am I not the one you sing to?
I’ve heard your longing
Selah

I’ll write your verses in the night
if you come for me with your
miracles of wine and wonder

Can you see me from your window?
Do I remind you of God?

Save me from wicked hands
chained in gold and jewels
Hide me in your kingdom
Forever

Wasted  (18×24″, ink on newsprint)

Burning Front Porch Appalachia (originally published in Ghost City Press)

I saw a lightning bug flicker in a spider’s web
Twice it blinked, and twice again
The crickets kept selling their singing
They didn’t see
but I did

Cooling units beeped and hummed
Still you kept calling
Your blink shining brightly, then lulling
And even though I knew you were dying
I backed away slowly
Your light blinking “help me”

I had no power to rescue or help you
Do you even deserve dying?
Did you choose to land in that web?
Are you weak-minded?

Or were you caught in the wrong place
at a bad time?
And if I can’t free you, what then?

And while I was mulling, not thinking
You didn’t blink twice, or blink twice again
No glow to expect, or better yet, hope for
I can barely see you anymore

Magpie Sketch (5×8″, charcoal on moleskin)

Sophie (11×14″, acrylic on stretched canvas)