SCORE SUSTENANCE

Valyntina Grenier

There is always already a war going on

 

all our dead

all our little deaths

 

A lead heart exposed

as a chaff of grain packed in flesh

 

In the wake of two atomic blasts 

an unknown number of hearts were made ash

 

The almost instantaneous expansion 

violence as air

 

Mortals projectile

Waves incinerate

 

Here we are from a page 

hanging in air

 

Have you heard 

bombs going off

 

Shells scatter

 

In a spray of shrapnel

flesh becomes mist 

 

Bones give off carbon 13

 

While for you 

 

for me

our breath becomes mist

for all

for each one

 

gather

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Valyntina Grenier makes art on the side of life that insists, “Don’t Shoot.” Her poetry and visual art push the boundaries of representation and abstraction to create a vantage from which to view violence and prejudice. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in, Lana Turner, JuxtaProse, Cathexis NorthWest Press, Bat City Review, The Volta's Arroyo Chico and Spiral Orb. Her first chapbook Fever Dream/ Take Heart (a double) came out January 2020 from Cathexis NorthWest Press. Find her at valyntinagrenier.com or Insta @valyntinagrenier

Issue XVII