Poetry Super Highway

Poetry Super Highway

March 1-7, 2010: Michael H Brownstein and Matthew Friesen

Michael H Brownstein
mhbrownstein@ymail.com

 

Bio (auto)

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, After Hours, Free Lunch, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, The Pacific Review and others In addition, he has eight poetry chapbooks including The Shooting Gallery (Samidat Press, 1987), Poems from the Body Bag (Ommation Press, 1988), A Period of Trees (Snark Press, 2004) and What Stone Is (Fractal Edge Press, 2005) Brownstein taught elementary school in Chicago’s inner city (he is now retired), but he continues to study authentic African instruments with his students, conducts grant-writing workshops for educators and the State of Illinois Title 1 Convention, and records performance and music pieces with grants from the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the Oppenheimer Foundation, BP Leadership Grants, and others.

The following work is Copyright © 2010, and owned by Michael H Brownstein and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.

 

The Great Leader

—The Dear Leader, Kim Jung ll of North Korea, scored five to eleven (depending on your source) holes in one in his very first game of golf: news item

We can believe a double rainbow appears at the birth of a leader,
That he hits a home run during his first game of baseball,
That he scores thirteen field goals his first try at American football All is possible in this world He was a child then I know Once I scored fifty points in basketball the tallest boy
In the neighborhood for another year I could already run a 4:30 mile
And jog twenty kilometers in a day weather permitting They say the day I was born thick clouds punched out the sky
Turning day to near night and when thunder leaped from cloud to cloud,
Lightning ran with it It did not rain Hours later the sky
Again sparkling blue, three rainbows merged together
In a greasy puddle near the center of an abandoned parking lot.

 

_______________________________

Matthew Friesen
freezer20@hotmail.com

 

Bio (auto)

Matthew Friesen was born and raised in Portland, Oregon For him, the sun has long risen and set with the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers He knows very little about most things Except temp jobs, of which he knows a great deal He has worked at various firms and around many other firm things He likes ideas, and believes in them He may even be addicted to them He loves dogs too But so far as he can tell he does not believe in them Visit Matthew on the web here: http://themooncalvesmeadow.blogspot.com/

The following work is Copyright © 2010, and owned by Matthew Friesen and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.

 

I Keep Singing

I keep singing
the last
stanza from
a song
i heard this
morning

Even though
at just the part
i wanted to hear
my roommates
girlfriend switched
the song

And now im left
singing what
i wanted
to hear

just like
always.

Field Test

A little crucifix
In the
Window across
The way
Accompanied by
Nothing but a gutter
Reminds me of
Some place beautiful
I don’t go
Anymore.

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