BILL WOLAK

BILL WOLAK

LOVE OPENS THE HANDS

Only the heart enjoys

this fishing without a net;

beauty locks all the doors

and disaster breaks them down.

Long absence resonates anticipation

like the guesswork of desire,

but deep roots grow

deliberately around rock

so that any guest who finally arrives

eclipses the sun becoming the feast

and the wine and the dessert.

Touch the scar, and it

will offer some astounding advice:

loveliness fades, but not grace;

the world loves lightning

less than fire.

Love opens the hands for kindness,

and kindness is a debt

you never tire of repaying.

THE LOVER’S BODY

May your hands

reach beyond dreams

where moonlight

awakens as flesh.

May your kisses

seep deeper than rain

into the body’s

pink crossroads.

May your fingers

touch the unexpected

always with the thrill

of loving.

IN THE SILENCE BETWEEN LOVE SONGS

I miss your body

sliding over mine

sleek as lightning

with your hips tilted

a little toward delirium.

I miss the hint of dawn

in your fingernails

and the dwindling moonlight

of your hair.

I miss the arching

of your long back

smooth as a snow heron’s

neck feathers

and your upturned legs

kicking at the ceiling

when I slip my tongue

inside you.

I miss your blue eyes

where I lost the sea

and your broad shoulders

pressed against my back

while I dreamed.

But I miss you most

in the silence

between love songs

BILL WOLAK

BILL WOLAK is a poet who lives in New Jersey and teaches Creative Writing at William Paterson University. He has just published his twelfth collection of poetry entitled Love Opens the Hands, Nirala Publications, 2015. His poetry has appeared in over a hundred magazines. His most recent translation with Mahmood Karimi-Hakak, Love Me More Than the Others: Selected Poetry of Iraj Mirza, was published by Cross-Cultural Communications in 2014. His translations have appeared in such magazines as The Su Journal, Basalt, Visions International, World Poetry Journal, and Atlanta Review. His critical work and interviews have appeared in Notre Dame Review, Persian Heritage Magazine, Gargoyle, Southern Humanities Review, The Paterson Literary Review, Ascent, Florida English, The Seventh Quarry, and Prime Numbers Magazine. Mr. Wolak has been awarded several National Endowment for the Humanities scholarships and two Fulbright-Hays scholarships to study and travel in India. In 2007, he was selected to participate in a Friendship Delegation to Iran sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, America’s largest and oldest interfaith peace and justice organization. During the Summer of 2010, Mr. Wolak was awarded a Field Study Opportunity in China and Japan by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. He was selected to be a featured poet at festivals in India four times: at the 2011 Kritya International Poetry Festival in Nagpur, at the 2013 Hyderabad Literary Festival, at the Tarjuma 2013: Festival of Translators in Ahmedabad, and at the 2014 Hyderabad Literary Festival.In 2016, he was a featured poet at The Mihai Eminescu International Poetry Festival in Craiova, Romania; Europa in Versi, Lake Como, Italy; The Pesaro International Poetry Festival, Pesaro, Italy, The Xichang-Qionghai Silk Road International Poetry Week, Xichang, China; and Ethnofest, Pristina, Kosovo.

Also by Bill Wolak: Original Poetry Pale as an Explosion (1977). Archeology of Light (2011). Warming the Mirror (2012). When Dreaming Birds Sing (2012). The Strength of the Spider’s Web Decides (2012). Whatever Nakedness Allows (2013) .Perfume in a Sandstorm (2013). The Art of Invisibility (2013). The Statue of Lightning (2013. The Lover’s Body (2014). Singing Their Lovers Naked (2014). Confusing the Gods (2015). Love Opens the Hands: New & Selected Love Poems (2015). Snow Flakes Blown Into a Keyhole (2015). The Rain That Makes Ashes Dance (2017)