Art: Mountains by Baptiste Charruyer, Paris, @wild_fangs_photos
TEN THOUSAND WINTERS BEFORE WRITTEN WORDS
“Stop this day and night with me, and
you shall possess the origin of all poems.”
–Walt Whitman
Ten thousand winters before written words
when rousing singers recorded in verse
bold lives’ lore or songs of the Universe
cold nights were for sounds of the human voice
to warm, restore, and hearten broken hordes
through stories stored in hearts and vocal cords.
Burnished sounds in our forebears’ memories
nourished around their fires for centuries
hungers that led us to band into bands
under the message:
“You are who I am.”
About the author:
The poetry of Peter Arvan Manos has been published in Yellow Chair Review, Eunoia Review, Modern Poetry Quarterly Review, The New York Times, Atlanta Review, Provo Canyon Review, Avocet Poetry Journal, Parody Poetry Journal, Prolific Press, and the Elohi Gaduji Journal, among others.
Peter has written two poetry chapbooks, Walt Whitman’s Wolves, and Myriads. He also authors a monthly column on renewable sources of electricity in Transmission & Distribution World Magazine.
Peter grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, by shores that were beautiful or horrid depending on the tides, the wind, and whether or not you were looking toward or away from the sewage plant or garbage dump. He remains happily confused about the distinctions we make between nature and technology.