Kate Greenstreet


Clearing

He loses ground building cabins.
The air reminds her of before.
People keep arriving (you, like all others).
We want to show you who we were.

Start by sitting in a comfortable position.
Notice it’s powerful, yet pleasant.
One small room, wooden floor, favorite window.
The leaves are burning. Why should it be better.

*previously published in Octopus Magazine - Issue 5


Conviction

Nobody has ever been so happy.

the city covered in snow
the town buried "all rise"

"Only if it changes everything."

I know he's good—
(or) he's someone I love.

The freighter represents history,
the river is the ground.

snow on your coat
fishermen
reporters
police

He's still walking away.

*previously published in The Tiny Journal.


“on the way to the ice” (2)

“it comes in bullets,
in jets
and that's the modern way”

“Well, we're the long range people”

“approves or—discards—this is murder—
you see…during the years—thirty—”
“I wouldn't ask, as you say”

“too tired to lift it”

“I could have delved
into deeper things but
one can't risk—”

[ ]

“—talking clears the air
and brings out half a laugh…
we poor beings

with what we think…

[D]irectly
that's our best way”
“not just for me

but the world. And while we live.”

*previously published in Fascicle - Issue 2


Pupil

A genius! they say.
Or then: She has almost no gifts.
Get the pipe in, and bury it.
What we beganto know, we began
to know
in secret.
If you are vulnerable
to this music...

it's not about ecstasy,
merging, or being unusual,
believe me.
What we've done so far
is like assembling ingredients is
to hunger. If you are vulnerable.
(A great place to live!
In loving memory)
We thought the future

had arrived.
Fields,
a stony place, then forests.
All positions being apparent,
no one agrees about
what happened next.
It was the past. (Shoe
that fits)
Mathematics
was a prayer they did
with chalk.

I pondered the meaning
of the letters—thx (lowercase,
period)—instead of thanks.
Decided I had said too much.
I wanted to be asked.
Shoe that fits,
shoe made of glass.
Begins to explain
how in prayer
the soul is united with God.
Describes how we may know we are not
mistaken about this.

*previously published in Verse Daily - 2005


Introvert

Deep in my own green element,
I met a friend—
my double, my dearest.

Others
pulled me out of the sea,
placed me

in this pan of water,
added salt,
and taught me to eat bread.

*previously published in The Duplications - Sept. 4, 2005