ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Clint Margrave is the author of Salute the Wreckage(2016) and The Early Death of Men (2012), both published by NYQ Books. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Threepenny Review, New York Quarterly, The Writer's Almanac, Rattle, Cimarron Review, Verse Daily, The American Journal of Poetry, and Ambit (UK),among others. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Poets Resist
Edited by Asante Keron Hamid
October 24, 2018
Edited by Asante Keron Hamid
October 24, 2018
On the Banks of the Danube
they found the young mother’s body.
And all I could think about
were the fields of sunflowers
that went on for miles
when I traveled
through Bulgaria
last summer.
The red roofs of village houses.
The shopkeepers
that sat smoking together
on busy streets
in perfectly-timed
cigarette breaks.
The devoted young friends I made,
staging art exhibits
in the center of cities.
The father who kept kissing
the cheek of his disabled daughter
each time he wiped the drool
from her mouth.
The boy ringing the bell
on his bicycle.
The parents who carried
their paraplegic son
onto a raft in the Black Sea
so he could swim
with his brothers
and sisters.
The melon ice cream
in the park
on Saturday.
The little girl running across
grass in bright pink pants
shouting, “Mamo! Mamo!”
As someone who has visited Bulgaria many times, including for a month this past summer, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the brutal rape and murder of Viktoria Marinova, Bulgarian journalist and mother of a seven-year-old daughter. It's hard to merge this horrifying story with my overwhelmingly positive experience of this beautiful, peaceful land and its kind-hearted and devoted people. Unfortunately, such experiences are not newsworthy enough to be reported by the New York Times or CNN and most Americans only associate Bulgaria with what does make the headlines: communism (formerly), corruption, and now crime.
Poets Resist is published by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
