Three Poems by Michael H. Brownstein

 

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).