We are Landscapes

by Mindie Kniss

by Lewis J. Kahler

We are the poems of history.
We are saying nothing.
The all-important nothing-
that resonates in the mind,
and nourishes
the spirit.

We are the topography
of all that never was.
The memory of what could not be.
We are the note in the cosmic music of chance,
the lost tomes of our foremothers.
We are our guides.
We are the light-
the hope.
We are divinely lost-
and we dance.

Lewis J. Kahler is the Dean of the Center for the Arts and Humanities at Mohawk Valley Community College. He also is the co-editor of Portrait literary magazine and is the author of No Mind: A Collection of Haiku (Portrait Publishing, 2008). Lewis was a contributing editor to Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide (Ten Speed Press, 2002). His poetry has appeared in the Resonant Review, Ampersand, Fusion and The Oracle Literary Journal.