Ceremony of a Kind by Neil Ellman
(painting by Perle Fine) Ceremony of a Kind (after the painting by Perle Fine) In celebration of the day our world ended and a new one born swaddled in a cloth of stars we march to the beat of a distant drummer and raise our flags to victory and the magical arrogance of the children we were. It is a ceremony of a kind with ritual sacrifice letting of blood effigies on fire and painted faces to mask our misgivings and our fear no longer children we parade beneath the arches of a life we had left behind. We are the inheritors of a history forgotten or never learned that we shall repeat because we have no other choice. Neil Ellman is a poet from New Jersey. He has published numerous poems, more than 1,000 of which are ekphrastic and written in response to works of modern art, in print and online journals, anthologies and chapbooks throughout the world. He has been nominated twice fo...