Barry Ergang

PARADISE COSTS

The viper uncoils, envenoms the green air
and callow ear, seeds the sedulous purge
of grace. Tumid blood blooms, azaleas flare
lusty blossoms—bouquets for thaumaturge
whose children freewheel, flout his slights and scourge
his soul with willful notions. Disintegration
triumphs, reigns, baffled by its own creation.


Gerald So reads "Paradise Costs":



Subscribe to Channel 52 for first view of new videos.


Barry confesses: "What inspired the poem was the idea of an emotionally abusive parent having to contend with the eventual rebelliousness of the children he abused, and the consequent destruction of traditional familial bonds."


A Derringer Award winner, BARRY ERGANG's poetry has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. His collection Farrago: Poems Light and Dark, is available in Kindle and paperback editions at Amazon.