RALPH ANGEL
Untitled (A flurry of snow)
A flurry of snow
Three birds
in a row
The kind of light you could
paint to
I learned to stand on a wall of water
and to fall
down the bougainvilla
The night always
still
the moon beneath the wind
My body
demands of your echo
my body
My body sinks like a butterfly
like a handful of lamplight
and crickets
Yip yip coyote
The echo born in my heart
upon your mirror
reflected
A renowned American poet, teacher, mentor Ralph Angel passed away in March, 2020. His latest poetry collection, Your Moon, was awarded the Green Rose Poetry Prize, and is available from New Issues Press. And entropia, thirty-one images, is just out from the fine art photography publisher, Dark Spring Press. Strays, a limited-edition chapbook of poems, is just out, too. During his prestigious career, Ralph received countless awards, including a PEN USA Award, a Pushcart Prize, a Gertrude Stein Award, a Fulbright Foundation fellowship. He was the Edith R. White Distinguished Professor at the University of Redlands for 39 years, and a member of the MFA in Writing faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts. He is survived by his wife Mary Angel.
