My poem ‘Ghost Plaza’ in Gallery Show

Emerge Gallery’s “Art & Words” Exhibit — a combination of art and poetry inspired by one another — opened last night in Saugerties, NY. My poem “Ghost Plaza,” inspired by artist Ellen Martin’s photograph “Abandoned #98 Plywood and Pleats,” appears in the exhibit. Both are shown below.

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GHOST PLAZA

By Allen Shadow

Blanked and shadowed

once curtained and live

the cratered parking lot

the power lines to nowhere

the mismatched plywood for eyes

yet can see, smell the luxe drapes

dripping sad theater where once

little ladies with purses sat for hours

beneath bulbous dryers, unaware

of the traffic and teen terrors beyond

Are there still stray coins perhaps

amid the slaughtered floor tiles

ones that might tell tales of transactions

good and bad and heated, when there

was once the throbbing of life?

The show will culminate in a poetry reading on Sunday, April 28, from 2 to 5 p.m. Emerge Gallery is located at 228 Main Street, Saugerties. The show is curated by poet, artist and gallery owner Robert Langdon.