Two Poems by Paul Kleiner

The Fells seen from Jack Flats

A return
to mist, to moss
A return
to trees, from time
the animals that leave little tracks - abound
forest punctuated by concrete veins
never, not me
my feet calloused from asphalt
the birdsong- how much they say!
When I can hear it
When I can hear it
there is that little gray animal
I can see it, from my apartment
the streetlights are silent yet
the sun is on its last verse
red and orange serenading gray fur
then each tree resonated in turn
by the end of today’s concert
the squirrel beckons
as the sky-orchestra darkens
Today, yes, today
A treading
from streets, from concrete
A treading
to a fading and hoping sun

and I will not tread alone


"Floral Shoppe" by Macintosh Plus Album Review

So, recombinator
stretcher
of nostalgia
flurry
of remembrances
hazy-sunset leaping pixel-skyline
spin, sputter, remember
the call from concrete
scratchy and slow
flying between buildings
time-adrift, decade-lost
oriented never,
to grasp: futile
find nothing here
look and it will collapse
what wonderful enjoyment to be had
from the absence of the past

Paul Kleiner is a writer of short fiction and poetry with a frequent focus on history, the human body, and queerness in society. Paul is a graduate of UMass Amherst, an alumn of the NITEO program at Boston University, and currently that friend who is never trusted with the aux cord.