Paul Ilechko

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Manifest for Modernism

You can get lost in an antique store
not physically lost           bur mentally unable

to move on as you search through
shelf after shelf of extraordinary objects

each one a manifestation of a time
and place           a reflection of a life that was lived

of people who laughed and loved and slept
on their backs           unable to breathe

any other way           unable to admit that
the luxurious objects they collected were

largely irrelevant to the lives they had lived
now catalogued and computerized

for sale by their heirs           as the sun continues
to circle the earth           and lives reach

a natural ending          and the children
who were jealous of the love and attention

have now begun their own collections
hours spent poring through the mysteries

of midcentury modern           items once purchased
new by their grandparents’ generation.

Reconfiguration

It’s odd that I remember so well
the house of my childhood
but more recent homes are
practically a mystery to me
no longer sure where the fridge
and sink stood in relation to each other
or how the second floor would
spread out from the landing
at the top of the stairs
an almost forgotten memory
from a foreign country where I never
learned to speak the language
where clouds are blowing steadily in
from above the oil-struck ocean
and strangers throng the shops
that sell mysterious goods
in unmarked boxes
where the plants that grow in gardens
and forests are of unknown varieties
my amnesia pressing in
from so many directions at once
I seem to be barely real
a reflection of the shadow
of a reflection
silver fading into transparency
and the street now filled
with visitors who endlessly
swarm from out of metro stations
parsing the maps that they believe
will allow them to never forget
the configuration of the world
that they are passing through.  

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.  

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