After the sculpture Compassion Moves a World, by Julie Rotblatt-Amrany
In the days that followed
The blue ink of sea broiled over
A child, a vulture, a lack of seed.
Everything spreading outward.
Wind whined into place and rained.
Sun spread its thick arms and stayed.
One person can make a world.
A strong wind can swim in acid and wake.
Water in turmoil thickening.
Hold on with all of your might.
The earth has not broken open yet.
The legs of the strong are stronger
Than the waves of the cloak of life.
We will come to cross this path,
We will make it across this continent,
We will find the child, the vulture, the seed.
We will change the shape of water.
Michael H. Brownstein has been widely published throughout the small and literary presses. His work has appeared in The Café Review, American Letters and Commentary, Skidrow Penthouse, Xavier Review, Hotel Amerika, Free Lunch, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, The Pacific Review, Poetrysuperhighway.com and others. In addition, he has nine poetry chapbooks including A Period of Trees (Snark Press, 2004) and Firestorm: A Rendering of Torah (Camel Saloon Press, 2012), The Possibility of Sky and Hell: From My Suicide Book (White Knuckle Press, 2013). He is the editor of First Poems from Viet Nam (2011).
califragile.org 