Se more in the Auburn Examiner!

https://auburnexaminer.com/november-poet-spotlight-brendan-mcbreen/

 

Find more of my poetry on Mad Swirl:
http://madswirl.com/author/brendan-mcbreen/

​

imagine me

        a stranger

 

I consider myself to be a stranger everywhere.

                                                  – Albert Einstein –

 

imagine the wave

 

center it

           in a spherical lake

 

standing

           in free space

 

waves of electrons

           collide

 

           with paper swans

 

ripple

           to the outer edge

                      of time

 

how could I ever tell you

 

I want to be a woman

 

I want

           to be a swan

 

rose print paper

petals scattered

 

some

           on fire

 

I want to fold myself

 

                      into myself

 

 

Published in the delinquent, issue 13 (www.thedelinquent.co.uk) and in The Far Field (http://kathleenflenniken.com/blog/)

 

 

Voyager

 

long after

our wars

and our pollutions

fail to kill us

 

humans

and the Earth we cling to

 

will return

to the dust

stars are made of

 

no whispers

no bangs

just cold heat

from a dying sun

a final embrace

of light

 

the small hopes

we have

scattered

into endless oceans

of time

 

nothing more

than graffiti

on the universe

saying only

we were here

we existed

 

even these

will be lost

among gathered dust

and debris

 

until they burn away

streaking

across the sky

of some distant planet

born eons after

Earth’s demise

 

a creature there

may find

an odd relic

and say to it’s fellows

these metals

these etchings

cannot be made

in nature

 

amid phosphorescent

flickers of dissent

 

this creature

 

will be laughed out of the room

into cool night air

where it will tilt

it’s sensory protuberance up

to better hear

the stars

sing

 

and think

maybe

just maybe

we are not

           alone

 

 

Published in Farther Stars than These (www.fartherstars.com) archived 7/7/16

 

 

Sasquatch

 

are you

what we would have been

 

before

the Annunaki

 

changed us

made us more like them

 

Bigfoot

North American

 

great ape

our cousin lemur

 

are you

our past haunting us

 

our lost

potential made flesh

 

made fur

leaving loping tracks

 

across

our most secret dreams

 

 

Published in Aphelion (http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/sections/poetry.html) Issue 207, Volume 20 June 2016

 

 

wishing on a black hole

 

before the ender of time

 

finds us

 

wishing

           we had more

 

before all dust

 

is returned

 

to its singular source

 

let us add

 

a few splashes

           of color

 

to the unfinishable canvas

 

of understanding

 

 

Published in Bear Creek Haiku (www.bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com) August 2015

 

 

house demolished

years ago

nobody told

           the tulips

 

 

Published in Crab Creek Review (www.crabcreekreview.org) 2007

 

 

Cento 1

 

It’s the dream we carry

From the Northern lakes with the reeds and rushes,

for the thoughts we share

not ready to give it over

to the eternal surf, to Time!

Swallow this, it will make you well.

Come stand with me, look forward, not back,

For this is love and nothing else is love,

 

 

           A Cento is a form where each line is taken from another poem.

 

           Olav H. Hauge, Borealis, translated by Robert Hedin

           Andrew Barton Paterson, The Black Swans

           Nikki Giovanni, A Poem of Friendship

           Naomi Shihab Nye, Boy and Egg

           Pablo Neruda, Always, translated by Brian Cole

           Ogden Nash, Adventures Of Isabel

           Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Let us not be bitter

           Robert Frost, A Prayer in Spring

 

 

Published in Five Willows Poetry (www.fivewillowspoetry.blogspot.com) January 2016

 

 

                B-symmetry

if it ain’t broke
        spread the juicy mantra of sprawl

blue heron takes flight
        disappears
        behind slaughter     shrubbery

fire dire wire     clever moon

        Terra Luna
                on fire
        ablaze     watching

mulch of willow
blue dragonflies
        butterflies
                a smog
        of beady houseflies

the old ones spoke of this
                they said

                        run

 

 

(This is where Terra Luna came from.)

 

something

in the shape of a bird

it sings

        sky
rearranges itself

beneath trees
light
and shadow
are fluid

the song
is gone

yet

        lingers

 

 

Published by: Kind of a Hurricane Press, Tranquility issue

 

 

when gravity fails

Spotsy
my grandmother’s cat

adopted me

Tiger
from her latest litter
was my best friend

we chased each other
all around our back yard world

he hid in the wood pile
liked the smell

I’d reach in
he’d bat my hand
as I tried to pull away
he’d nudge out
I’d bat at his paws

then he was gone

my dad said
he asked my brother
to drive him to the country

and leave him there

he found his way back
with a broken hip

they took him somewhere again

he didn’t come back

 

 

Hierophant

words
make themselves

known

to wings

to wind

now

there are only letters

now

incoherent marks

soon

they fade

all that’s left

the listening

 

 

The Wolf

Passion
the wolf
thin and sly
you howl
twinkle in your eye
at the moon
in the midnight sky

Freedom
the night
is your own
forest
yours and yours alone
quick you run
through the wood of home

Shadow
chill mist
hear your tune
you hunt
ghosts through the damp gloom
howls once more
at the pale full moon

 

 

(This is one of the first poems I ever wrote, I was 12 or 13)

 

 

naked we run

across the sky
gold and silver fishes
holding our breath