The Nativity, by Jackie Langetieg

The Yellow Room, by Marc Chagall (France, b. Belarus). 1911.

The Nativity

He painted the mother in acid yellow
with her husband and baby the same,
features morphing into more than one face.

The angel wears an Anorak with hood
of stardust and snow. The babe cries
and three seal hunters find them
by the light of the pale winter sun.

In the shack a polar bear, a lynx
and outside a moose bellows for food.
The almost familiar scene, men and gifts:
perfume of whales, fur from seals, fox pelt.

It may come to pass that something bigger 
will happen. For now, the little one in Mother’s arms
just wants milk that is too cold to drink.

Jackie Langetieg

Jackie Langetieg is retired and lives in Verona Wisconsin and secretly wishes it were Verona Italy. She lives with her son and two kitties. She is a regular contributor to the Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar, has published poems in small presses such as Bramble, Verse Wisconsin, Wis. Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and has published two chapbooks and two collections of poetry. She currently is working on a series of stories for a memoir.