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
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