“Battle” © Thomas Riesner

 

Traumas Timeline(s)

In moods   yearning for hair
          Gears     curls      soup bowls new
Butter chicken curries   no begging asylums
  paths just   no lab spotlights   down blue Niles
numb   or out freaking   gifts daring   promises
          causing   being terrors   the point
the cut   pretense of strength   going voting
          testing   boundary-less   enraging
passengers   consumers   American comas
          democracy erasing drug addictions   clearance
presumptions facts   poverty elevators stuck   tantrums
          not Valentines   the fighting Democrats   flat lemons
Are they in there?   Or freezing   in hellish coats
          of winter          each other, eating   promising nothing, everything.

 

Micah Zevin is a librarian poet living in Jackson Heights, Queens, N.Y. with his wife and guinea pigs. He has published articles and poems most recently at the Heavy Feather Review, Big Other, The Bowery Gothic, The Poets of Queens Anthology, Narrative Northeast, Pine Hills Review, Spoke Journal, Fence, First Literary Review East, Brevitas 20-2023 Anthology of the Short Poem and the Queensbound poetry project. His first book of poems, Metal, Heavy was published December 1st, 2020 from Olena Jennings and Poets of Queens Press. He has created/curates an open mic/poetry prompt workshop called The Risk of Discovery Reading Series.

Thomas Riesner: “I was born in Leipzig,Germany in 1971 and I still live here today. Already in elementary school I often painted “abstract” instead of the given concrete drawing. I later retained this style or changed it to “abstract figuration ” I painted a lot at home, always without professional guidance. I didn’t have any specific role models. When I start a picture, I only have a certain idea, but often something completely different emerges. I would describe myself as an outsiderart artist.”