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8/8/2020

Poetry by Michael Schmeltzer

Picture
                       Lei Han CC




Kindness as a Kind of Weapon


So often my name has played 
on the lips of those who hate me

I must be their magnum opus,
a musical made 

by those who confuse the barrel 
of a rifle with the body 

of a flute. What music they create
echoes in the emptiest halls 

and yet they bow as if vitriol 
needed a soundtrack.   

And if such animosity can be 
a kind of music, then I have crafted 

kindness 
into a kind of weapon 

you can swing with one hand
like a foam sword 

from a state fair.
Here, it's yours.  

Hit me again and again 
until you’re satisfied. 

​


​
To the Flawless Members of the Tribunal 


I have, of course, hurt others
with the same hands I use 

to wipe my father’s 
lopsided face. 

The left half of his lips droop. 
His mouth hangs open 

as if about to speak.
I listen for my name. 

~

Age melts the handsome 
from him. He is wick 

and from him I was born
wicked.  

He cannot walk. 
He cannot drink 

the liquor he wants
so I give him water. 

I decorate him
with a Nicotine patch. 

Flawless members of the tribunal,
while you deliberate 

whether by match or torch
to raze my house,

my old life 
already burnt down. 

​
Picture
Michael Schmeltzer is the co-author of the nonfiction book "A Single Throat Opens," a lyric exploration of addiction and family. His debut "Blood Song" was a Washington State Book Award Finalist for Poetry and longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. He was recently a finalist for the Jake Adam York Prize for his unpublished poetry manuscript "In the Great War I Become Cake." Schmeltzer was born in Japan and eventually moved to the US. He currently lives in Seattle with his family and is the President of Floating Bridge Press. 

Rena link
8/9/2020 06:12:32 pm

Beautiful! Glad to be audience to this work. \o/

Dustin Pickering link
8/9/2020 06:35:25 pm

Interesting take on the unusual spirit of cruelty so present in the human frame. I like that the first is cruelty toward you and your response to it, then a candid admission of your own cruelty.

James Hannon
8/21/2020 02:01:30 pm

Love them both.

maggie sawkins link
9/30/2020 10:03:06 am

I admire the honesty and raw beauty of these two poems. I love the way the second poem turns - stunning ending.


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