If An Angel Will Come Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

(for the installation artist Ilya Kabakov, on a corner of his sky)


if he paints the moon in a corner of the sky

it is because he knows there cannot be a page large enough

to contain either moon or sky


and so this is a gesture

a gesture made to perhaps angels

angels he has left traps for


appropriately painted in pale rose

with golden scrolls on them and harps variously

lightly scented with violets from another era


in order to pose to them the one question

he has saved up to ask

since childhood.


does the moon know if the angels will come

will the sky become overcast

so that he will not know if they have come


if they have remained on the threshold

because of the sticky angel art gum

he positioned there


to catch them unaware

or so that their gowns are caught on a golden nail

just sticking up from the floorboard


since they are prone only

to look at each ceiling sistine like;

as if it were filled with stars;


the memory of Whose we are

and Who is looking for us.


mary angela douglas 2 june 2020