Cutting
The grass grows so fast with all the rain. Seemingly depthless pools sit inside hollow trunks. It is early Saturday morning, and the mower, in some way elementary, roars, wets leaves, and allows a feeling another kind of quietness. What remains is an innate wisdom. I see the trouble with words.
I feel my pulse and turn.
Loblolly pine, warm fronts and black gospel music coming from open windows, devoutly speak.
About the author:
Bruce Alford’s debut full-length poetry collection, TERMINAL SWITCHING, was published by Elk River Review Press in 2007. Alford’s work has appeared in African American Review, Comstock Review, Imagination & Place Press and elsewhere, including several anthologies. He has published fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry as well as reviews of contemporary poets such as Natasha Trethewey, Jake Adam York and Sean Hill.
Alford received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama and was an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of South Alabama from 2007-2011. He currently lives in Hammond, Louisiana. Before working in academia, he was an inner-city missionary and journalist. You can find out more about Bruce and his work at his website, bruce-alford.com, connect with him on Facebook and on Twitter @bruceealford.Art: Cyril Larvor, @cyrillarvor_blackbird
In the artist's words:
My Black Bird artist name is a wink to the crow who is an animal who is often hated by his appearance as the black cat, but who is also revered by a tremendous amount of culture and seen as one of the smarter animals capable of counting and speaking. Speaking … and I have already seen it.I have always drawn, painted and photographed. I wanted to be a cartoonist in advertising or photography, but I went to study in business and computer science.For 15 years I worked in the directions of information and computer security. 2 years ago I stopped to return in my first love the art and the human. My influences are vast; I was born in the 80s in the northern suburbs of Paris where social and cultural diversity is enormous. The 80s were a huge source of artistic inspiration. In addition to contemporary art and all other movements, there was the appearance in France of graffiti, manga, hip hop, computer science and the evolution of photography and television. All this has to influence. Since my return in the art, I exhibit in the galleries. The Lavomatik, also proposes music, the book …. ART21, a gallery in Montmartre, a district which likes and others a little everywhere.My other activity is in the human and the association. I collaborate with many associations that have been used as a means of communication and income.I collaborated with associations to help orphaned children, children in difficulty, migrants and give them the means to express themselves through Mixart art. An association for the protection of the oceans Bloom.An association against skin cancerAssociations against poverty and exclusion: Emmaus, restaurant of the heart… J organizes painting workshops with children or disabled people and also grafiti classes. My inspirations are unlimited, including painting or in pictures, and I like mixing the two. My philosophical tendencies are in sharing, cohesion and construction or reconstruction away from destruction. My tips are simple. Create with your heart and share your art positively. For my art, I use all media and types of paints, but I have a preference for acrylic and aerosol: street art tools, and for digital photography and desktop publishing. To contact me, I am in the gallery Art21, otherwise by Facebook https://www.facebook.