Spring 2009, Volume 6

Poetry by Ellen Reich

"The Painting Locomotive"
                                  —Van Gogh

Near the end of his life
Vincent said to Theo
I am the painting locomotive

as he splashed his canvass with unbearable blue
slashed the spectrum of hues
from yellow to ochre's billowing wheat

daubed those black marauding crows
in a feverish race—his eyes
piercing twin tracks of light

suddenly bullet-stopped
like a coal fired steam-engine's
great screeching brakes.


BIO:  Recent Pushcart Prize nominee, Ellen teaches creative writing for Santa Monica College, Emeritus Division. Her work has appeared widely in journals and anthologies.