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Two poems by Amee Nassrene Broumand

Amee Nassrene Broumand

cali / credit: em
cali / credit: em

The War

A lotus can’t become words—life
bleeds out. Still I struggle
to engrave the water’s face, the lotic

Mess:

Daylight speckles the orchard.

I long to pin this dragonfly down
& press her in a tome, but she defies all essay
of inchworm & scissors
to sass other worlds

within the known. Define this
to quell the itch.

This:

α) I ramble through faded grasses at sunset, collecting night
on my bootlaces. Listen—the rush of the abandoned lot.

β) A whiff of oenanthic hooks.

Lopsided & ankyroid, the riverside moon
pours buttermilk over rusted cars.

γ) Alice drifts through tides of pumpkin bisque.

In time—in a trick of the light—she dissolves
into swarms of plankton as they linger, curious.

The mushroom balloons wider in the dark.

3 Seconds Pressed in a Book

Smile—a sign with teeth drowns in the plaza fountain.
Shimmering circles dim as pennies mimic the sun.

A soldier plays the violin on the corner, coat billowing—
she sails in a cardboard boat across the sidewalk.

The harbor is empty.

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Amee Nassrene Broumand

Amee Nassrene Broumand is an Iranian-American poet. She has a B.A. in Philosophy & English from Boise State University, where she tutored logic for six semesters, graduated summa cum laude, & was named a Top Ten Scholar. Nominated for a Pushcart by Sundog Lit, she also has poems in Word Riot, A-Minor Magazine, Right Hand Pointing, Windfall, & elsewhere. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon & blogs for Burning House Press (UK). Follow her on Twitter @AmeeBroumand.

Author: Amee Nassrene Broumand Tags: poetry Category: Poetry March 23, 2018

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Comments

  1. Fred LaMotte says

    March 28, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    ‘The War’ is the best poem I have read in years. OMG. It does to me what Emily Dickinson says a real poem must do: blasts the top off of my head. Thank you. I bow.

    Reply
  2. Sam Silva says

    March 24, 2018 at 11:33 am

    A language and imagery which also sings.

    Reply

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Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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