Tag: David Kozinski

Heavy, Heavy Metal by David P. Kozinski

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Heavy, Heavy Metal

You finally find your row
and your seat, looking forward
to a night that lifts and bounces,
that stickily edges you when it can
to its or anyone’s full-body tease
unmasked, at ease. What remains is fog
hanging like crepe, unsupported;
willows billowing.

And just like that, the re-humpty-dumptification
of the egg industry and other slight miracles
are accomplished, and release comes
at the end of a chain of trumpets and trombones
which is to say it’s brassy – sounds it, feels it
even tastes it. The saliva drips thinly
from the clarinet’s bell
and the chimes and lyre
stir a roux of black Sabbath.

*

David P. Kozinski was a finalist for the Inlandia (California) Institute’s 2020 Hillary Gravendyke Prize for a book-length poetry manuscript. Publications include a chapbook, Loopholes, that won the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize, and his full-length book of poems, Tripping Over Memorial Day (Kelsay Books). Kozinski was named 2018 Mentor of the Year by Expressive Path, a non-profit that facilitates youth participation in the arts. He serves on the boards of the Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center in Philadelphia and the Eastern Shore Writers Association, and on the editorial board of Philadelphia Stories magazine. He is Art Editor of Schuylkill Valley Journal and Rockwood Park & Museum’s resident poet.

Arrivals/Departures by David P. Kozinski

~ ONE ART ~ 1 Comment

Arrivals/Departures

The woman I don’t recognize
except in the glitter and ruins of dreamland
looks a little like Diana Krall,
tells me her father died,
not when or how

and I wrap my rough hand over hers
the way paper overcomes rock,
the way overcoming can shield and heal
and say in the commonest way
I don’t have words
for moments like this.

As if the two are related
she adds, “I was born at the airport.”
Maybe she means came into the world
with baggage. Maybe she means
people only pause, in transit.

I summon a look of understanding
to my eyes and lay my hand
flat on the table
parallel to hers, so that together
they shape something wingèd
at rest, contemplating flight.

*

David P. Kozinski received a Poetry Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts and was named 2018 Mentor of the Year by Expressive Path, which facilitates youth participation in the arts. His full-length book of poems, Tripping Over Memorial Day, was published by Kelsay Books. He received the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize, including publication of his chapbook, Loopholes (Broadkill Press). Recent publications include Anti-Heroin Chic, Broadkill Review and North of Oxford. He serves on the board of the Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center in Philadelphia, the Editorial Board of Philadelphia Stories and is Art Editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal.