STRENGTH
--based on an image by artist Vony
Razom who is currently producing art from a bomb shelter in Ukraine
in the madness of the fertile lands,
a red blossom and its red leaves--
and from its seed, red caterpillars
bending into Red admirals, strong
in wing and shape, a rugged Vanessa
do not mistaken fractures in the sea
for weakness of the heart, soul
sickness--
she knows the beauty of self and
water
from her place on the shore of
power,
a current: she flips into the air,
sails
within the wind, reflects on
strength
and courage. Sometimes a butterfly
becomes human and changes the world
Synonyms
The vial of wind--or is it a vile
wind?--
pummelled the landscape and went into
the village.
How much is this like heat:
So many definitions the word gets
lost in a dark woods.
Maybe it is more like fast--
fast as an Olympic sprinter or fast
as a male sex worker
cruising Lake Michigan near Belmont
in Chicago
his body tight and his mouth
willing.
It cannot be four.
There are too many variations.
Nor can it be blue,.
but blew.
Yes..
The vile wind broke loose from its
vial
and blew the entire village into
splinters.
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTERNTION
The fist of God slammed into the
light grey drizzle cloud,
her blue-black arm exploded with
wind, an avalanche of hail,
an earthquake of rain, and the
valley of racists went black.
In every direction over the
mountains, the sky was full of peace,
a perfect blue, but in the valley, a
thickening blue black skin.
You do not know me, she ranted. What
makes you the right choice,
the better ones? I created all of
this including you Yes, it was I.
Now, she let out a cascade of
vowels, look to the sky. That's my colour.
But no one in the valley was paying
attention. No one was listening.
Michael H. Brownstein’s latest volume of poetry, A Slipknot Into Somewhere Else was recently published by Cholla Needles Press (2018).
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