Selena Zachai

Selena Zachai began as a dancer and turned to poetry and song-writing. Though some of her work has been published, most of it has appeared in other media. Her latest work is There's No Sun Up In The Sky.
She is also a painter and weaver
and is widely collected.

<excerpts>

NIGHT SONGS: FROM THE BEGINNING OF EARTH

Four Cantos, each with twenty four verses, exploring the intricate weave of a tapestry grown from the exclusive love between two people
(published by AviarPress)

First Canto... You

1
Sing to me... singer of you and me
The night is ending.
In the dark warm shadows, whisper my name...
I cannot whisper yours... you are my name.
I am the outer chamber of your heart,
Pulsing as it pulses, quieting as it quiets.
The night is ending
Light streams from the rim of the sky and flashes along
the curve of your body... dark in front, thigh on fire
Touch it, the cat's fur of your skin...
The shape of you vibrates, shimmers
There is no need to sleep.
Sing to me.
 

6
The light is green beneath the sun
The grasses reflect and sway to your moving body
Every part of you is open... spread, unafraid.
I lick your naked skin until my tongue becomes
warm and numb
The heat of your blood bakes the moaning rising music
of your throat into a taste...
A cream taste of sweat and yeast and tender flesh.
Every part of you spreads, stretches to cover the horizon.
You are the planet of woman and I am your moon.
 

11
How many times can I kiss you?
How many places on your lips
can my tongue stop and taste
the salt sweet sap that rises...
Up from your garden roots...
Through the stem of your body...
Into the petals of the flower of your face?
Your face shines and moves...
Moist, the rain from my eyes is transparent,
Liquid glass, the faintest trace of silver.
It washes the delicate flower you press against me.
How many times can I kiss you?

Second Canto... Me

4
You said to me
stand on the bridge between sleeping and awakening
the moment between twilight and night when one can remember what the eyes saw but can no longer see it...
when the outer world's light is gone and the other senses become bright.
Touch it, you said, in total darkness
and you will see all of the light inside.
And I said, that is the way, and it is a way to make love, that's what we should do.
And you laughed and said
yes, but first you must awaken the dream, you must touch it inside and let the light grow inside
then let it spread out
then we can do what we should do.

10
Tearing
Twisting
Tumbling
Rolling
Ripping
Riding
Searing
Seething
Spent
We are not dead
We are not awake
We are open.

Third Canto... Us

5
Why have you left me?
Come back to me
Come back to me
I hear the touch of your voice
the faint touch of your breath on my neck
I am blind without your eyes
Come back to me. (...)