Art: Landscape in Orange Tones by John Timothy RobinsonLALAH TRIES TO DUCK
After the next earthquake east of Kathmandu
the last snow leopard will eat a bullet for you
playing the role of Lalah (self-possessed
but afraid) just trying to feed your family.
LALAH
(cocking her head)
We’re shooting?
You said we weren’t shooting.
PRODUCER
How do you think this works? Everything is shot.
There is no shooting or not shooting.
Every surface is a camera. Shooting is all there is.
Success inevitably already happened. Ate itself
an illusion of control rushing us Tibetan Tsangpo
Canyon rapids purifying Ashok Stha
with red rice Tika (could be yellow white Tilaka)
also fish food for rougheye rockfish or refugees
like Kushtrim from Kosovo in my classroom
cheating the cavern of grey death in Berlin.
Living fossils like the horseshoe crab,
glass sponge, ginkgo trees surviving Hiroshima,
pinus longaeva bristling with unnamed branches
for 5000 years in a secret White Mountain location
wishing it could hide from what hides it. Revived
spores from salt deposits aging backwards
to be there when we are uploaded
into the immortal Turritopsis Nutricula
with no ears or eyes or nose & no brain or heart.
Not even a head but bodies almost only soft water.
Jellyfish do not have a spine or backbone.
One mouth as anus—yuck. Or for us soon neither
but still we’ll have the need to suck?
About the author:
Thomas Osatchoff is doing field-work for his debut collection of poetry. Recent poems of his can be found in Cleaver Magazine, Harpur Palate, Obra/Artifact, Word For/Word, and elsewhere. Thomas has resided in many places throughout the world where he has had opportunities to develop his perspective.
Art: Landscape in Orange Tones by John Timothy Robinson
In the artist's words:
John Timothy Robinson is a mainstream citizen and minored in Studio Art: Printmaking in college. John is also a twelve-year educator in Mason County, WV. He is a published poet with 150 literary works appearing in 102 journals and websites since August 2016 in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. In Printmaking, he has published eighty-four print and photographic images, though his primary medium is Monotype and Monoprint process with interest in collagraph, lithography and etching. Recent work; Cover “Rock Layers” first appeared in North American Review for 2019. “Rise,” “Leaf Image III” and “Golden Bridge” (red hill, purple sky) were first published in Castabout Art and Literature for 2019. “The Philosopher’s Stone” first appeared in Curating Alexandria for 2019. “Two Faces; Faded Green II” was first published in post card format for Red Flag Poetry, November 2019. “Leaf Image” for Right Hand Pointing issue 135 November 2019. Essays on Printmaking; “An Aesthetic for Printmaking” appeared at Empty Mirror in 2018. Contact:
jtrobinson@k12.wv.us
