Hazel Hall
The Empty Chair
all the unknown yet to discover this life of flux
Evening’s fabric is filled with shadows. The poet wears a black velvet jacket as he reads in the drawing room of an old house. Beside him stands an ancient chair of intricate design, like the memory of a woman— mother, scholar, helpmate. Nobody sits there, but sometimes in the morning the cushion needs shaking. Light on the window behind him has captured a garden of roses and reflections that glide in and out, elusive as dreams. In it are listeners’ faces, serene as moon-ghosts as if they have come from the garden outside. Is that a figure sitting in the chair, silver hair mirrored in the window? Surely… but now it has gone.
Tomorrow that cushion will need shaking.
moth holes how years fall away
About the Author
Hazel Hall is a well-published Australian poet, musicologist, and lifelong learner who loves collaborating with other artists. Her latest collections are Step by Step (Picaro Poets 2019), Moonlight Over the Siding (Interactive Press 2019), and Severed Web (Picaro Poets 2020). Her sonnet collection A Hint of Rosemary is forthcoming.