POETRY
“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.”
I count my homes—
those of my scattered youth
the sanctuary of our young family
the intermittent rest stops
of apartments and vacations.
I slumped in front of a massive desk, a passive patient corroded with failure and dread.
Empty vessels
make the most sound, I think,
as you rip the fairy lights off the handrail.
The poetry of Brian S. Ellis unravels, inverts, investigates, and complicates. His poems are radical koans and invitations to forego common narratives.
I tap at the alphabet while a single deer
taps at the dirt beyond the brush
on the far side of the tree line.
The two of us toast to a man we both love, to whatever degree, clink our glasses and laugh…
I have an axe
with hearts gashed
It recommended
soft porn, as gentle prodding and petting parent
to parent might calm and soothe the kid.