4 Poems by Michelle Hartman

communion

she read the poem
          about a dangerous girl
tattoos and moonlight
an answering poem epiphany
regarding snow and soldiers leaving

like birds cawing to one another
dropping nourishment in up-turned beaks
poets communicate


The house reeked of turned meat

              that you fried and left for the ghosts to eat.

The ghosts were stoned
craving carbs, the meat
attracting only blowflies.
And I marooned here, favorite
sex worker jailed, bandersnatch

fumerous yet again.
As jabberwocky flaps
his jaws and scratches his crotch.

A lowering sense of dis-ease brings
a need for prophecy: tracing
dampened creases in your underwear
in a sort of alternative phrenology.


Perspective #6

Paintings on velvet aside
dogs cannot play poker
their faces pristine mirrors
of their souls. Joy, anguish
and puzzlement as clearly visible
as fiery sky messages from God.
Now Cats can have your house
car and first born
and you will never see a tell.


Perspective #4
             pol·i·tics  ˈpäləˌtiks/ noun

I see a hearty back slap, you a carved hilt
sprouting between shoulder blade and spine.
I am privileged to see surprise, terror, grief
resignation and wonder;
an entire Bergman film in five seconds.
You witness a blossoming blood stain.
Now I think we both should run.

Bionote

I have been published in Spillway, Plainsongs, Crannog, Poetry Quarterly, The Pedestal Magazine, Raleigh Review, San Pedro River Review, Pacific Review, Concho River Review, and RiverSedge, as well as over sixty other journals and twenty anthologies. My work also appears overseas in Ireland, Germany, Australia, Canada and Nepal as well as a being a multiple Pushcart Nominee. My poetry book, Disenchanted and Disgruntled, from Lamar University Press is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Besides the above publishing credits, I am the editor for the online journal, Red River Review and hold a BS in Political Science-Pre Law.