Spring was not real yet, just a break from winter.
Mountain snow tumbled deep and wind carved
rock. We did not know rain. Then: a tunnel of light.
We came. We were curious and cold and light
enveloped us and made us warm. Earth broke
at our tails and light burned them white.Then: here was a strange naked creature
standing on two legs with no hair on the face.
Yet they knew us and they caught us.
We did not know the magic in our tails.
Together the first people and we made a circle
and the mountains answered with spring,
then summer, and now we know winter no more.
| Copyright © 2022 by Michael H. Brownstein Michael H. Brownstein’s volumes of poetry, A Slipknot Into Somewhere Else and How Do We Create Love?, were published by Cholla Needles Press in 2018 & 2019, respectively. |
Months now of reading your elusive poems have created in me a craving for them, for that hidden mystery they almost always hint at, as though you yourself see what it is and understand it.
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed.
DeleteSmiling at you, Bettina,
Delete"Elusive" is a good word, Michael always successfully hinting at a world we really wish we could see.
ReplyDeleteBeyond the poetic imagery, this poem utilizes the creation myths of a native South American tribe and a light skinned Germanic tribe. Lastly, I add the reason why we have different skin colors from an article in the journal Nature that explained how skin color evolved: whites came to be about 5000 years ago.
ReplyDelete