Carolyn Raphael
was a finalist in the 2009 Howard Nemerov Sonnet Contest. Her chapbook, Diagrams of Bittersweet, was published by Somers Rocks Press in 1997, and her poetry collection, The Most Beautiful Room in the World, was published by David Robert Books in 2010
Her poems have appeared in journals such as Measure, Orbis, The Lyric, and Rattapallax.
She is the poetry coordinator for the village of Great Neck Plaza, in Great Neck, New York, and has run several poetry programs for Mayor Jean Celender. A popular one is ”Poetry in the Plaza,” which places poems on local bulletin boards, much as “Poetry in Motion” placed poems on the subway.
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Epithalamium
The wedding guests parade through flowery fields
with gifts and babies in their arms;
two strings and flute sing softly in the breeze
while horses snap their tails at flies.
With gifts and babies in their arms,
the guests sit down in sun and shade;
while horses snap their tails at flies,
the slow procession moves through summer air.
The guests sit down in sun and shade
remembering, remembering . . .
The slow procession moves through summer air;
four parents weep as quiet vows are heard.
Remembering, remembering . . .
And when the magic words are said,
four parents weep as quiet vows are heard;
a newborn couple dances in the grass.
And when the magic words are said,
two strings and flute sing softly in the breeze.
A newborn couple dances in the grass;
the wedding guests parade through flowery fields.
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