Paul Ilechko
Paul Ilechko is a British American poet and occasional songwriter who lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ. His work has appeared in many journals, including The Bennington Review, The Night Heron Barks, Southword, Permafrost, and The Inflectionist Review. His first book is scheduled for 2025 publication by Gnashing Teeth Publishing.
Observance
The poor man makes
use of his invisibility
becomes a close watcher
begins to understand the patterns
made by the higher classes
as they stroll the city streets
and the way that rats and cats
and other creatures will scurry
under cover of darkness
he watches the beautiful
women painted golden
by the late summer sun
the brilliant white of seabirds
as they flash across
the gloomy harbor
plummeting into rolling
waves and skimming across
the liquid dark immensity
he hears the intermingling
of so many different sounds
as a form of music
what is cacophony to everyone else
is a symphony that burns its themes
and counterpoint into his cortex
nobody else knows the city
the way that he does
awash in memory
and structure and theory
but still not even a sidebar
in the history of his times.
