Three Poems by KJ Hannah Greenberg

The three poems by KJ Hannah Greenberg bear a unique resemblance to a magpie. They chatter, whistle, trill, and warble whilst her her words mimic ocean waves and, somehow, also wolf howls…

by: KJ Hannah Greenberg

Full of Pathogens

Dragon saliva, full of pathogens lethal to furze pigs,
Small children, large dogs, maybe antiquated robots,
Without antidote, could exhume so many bad tidings
That officials might opt to zoo the critters right away.

A veneer of makeup constitutes no beautiful façade, 
Cannot compensate for stupidity, for selfishness, for 
Tosh. Only fashionistas ever pretend that powdered
Chemicals truly transform folks into social splendor.

Selling accoutrements purposed for off-label drugs
Brings gullible persons to the brink of prominence,
Perhaps, encourages their companions to similarly
Cry when gorging on slighter, furry, affable beasts.

Dirt beneath fingernails may well imply gardening
Prowess, or, mayhap, the habit of interring foes in 
Shallow graves. Folded elbows, similarly, possibly
Serve as ballerina’s dreams or indicate grim insult.

At one Autumnal Ball, coeds frenzied, shaking off
Peers’ guff like mosquitos swarming punch. Their
Sledging was intended to elevate group status, not 
To repulse the newly crowned gamboling royalty.

Voids in youth culture present moraine of peculiar
Sorts. Regardless of astonishing, household tarns,
Once unconsolidated wreckage is reaped, nothing
Helps anymore, just requite or boosted allowance.

Pine needles, customarily, make amazing kindling.
Sometimes, though, pubescents exonerate parents.
Turkey farms, what’s more, reflect local practices
Of tooth and tail. Hot summers cause diaphoresis.

Mostly, it takes a dragon to melt glacial sheets, to
Carve out crevices among snowy banks, to allow
The sorts of previously popular juveniles to again
Be cherished, or, at best, to become manipulative. 

Sun Ships & Moonbeams

Straying, alit by sun ships & moonbeams,
Home, a distant hearth, heart so far away,
Journeying round naught, only coppices.

Trekking, with song plus bread, instead
Of marching ahead toward hollow bits,
Conveys cheer where other ways glom
Craggy skies, weird lanes, odd thickets.

If misery, rotating with sadness, probes,
Tears, sorrowful temperaments, certain
Leaves and twigs commend providence  
As tomorrow’s quintessential promise.
Courage overflows draughts for dupes.

Yet, few met in good worth genuinely 
Sing of smiley hours, elsewise sunny
Weeks. The stink from living mostly
Descended from depression’s dearth
Of ventilated talk. Whenever couples
Tiff, trouble tinges further woodlands.

At best, when rod or cloak’s forsaken,
In mill, hostelry, maybe smallholding, 
Pioneers eke any glimmer of prospect,
Some potential portion not differently
Filled, to walk in darkness, to warble
Secluded, to sleep with stony comfort
As bedfellow. Tactics remain pathetic.

There’s no golden arrow shooting all
Happiness’ shapes amidst avians, no
Kindly whispering creek running thru
Dismal forests or noiseless meadows.
Dappled deer compose dinner; never 
Act as enchanted pets. Fiery brutes,
Though, might be friends, as strange 
Familiars using antisocial behaviors.

Not Me

You look dubious, yet, if I am not as you,
Equally, you are unlike me. Commutative 
Laws manage to go beyond mathematics.

When we apply understanding to negotiate 
Contemporaneous problems, we choose to 
Improve what’s important. Many couples
Appreciate how new forays fill requisites.

In creating a link among doctrines, given
Morality’s attachment to meaning, we yet
May be able to employ useful, necessary, 
Compassion to junctures of words among
Wisdoms, might impact ethical delvings.

Contrariwise, extant methods of supporting
Language rarely justifies available solutions.
Meaning, some cultural rules, indorsed here,
Thither, influence individual capabilities to 
Collaborate on functional communication’s 
Designative, legislative, evaluative powers. 

For now, however, groupings used to critique 
Discussion hardly ever yield new insights on
Rhetorical stances, suffering, BBQed robins,
Symbols necessitating significant replicas of 
Galactic objectivism or stating one's thoughts
Plainly. Probes, unlike laser guns, seem as if
Contextualized experiences can rewrite texts.

The distillation of complex concepts, anyway,
Castoffs expressions’ unequivocally phonated
Worldviews. As long as boundaries continue,
Grounded perspectives might yet adjust such
Bits as microwaved pancakes, administrative
Staircases, Luna monsters, frizzy hair, oddly
Matched socks, croquet mallets, the Sargasso
Sea, additionally, bird nest soup, affable bees.  

KJ Hannah Greenberg’s poetry collections are: One-Handed Pianist (Hekate Publishing, 2021, Forthcoming), Flames and Fire (Seashell Books, 2021), Rudiments (Seashell Books, 2020), The Wife/Mom (Seashell Books, 2019), Beast There—Don’t That (Fomite Press, 2019), Mothers Ought to Utter Only Niceties (Unbound CONTENT, 2017), A Grand Sociology Lesson (Lit Fest Press, 2016), Dancing with Hedgehogs (Fowlpox Press, 2014), The Little Temple of My Sleeping Bag (Dancing Girl Press, 2014), Citrus-Inspired Ceramics (Aldrich Press, 2013), Intelligence’s Vast Bonfires (Lazarus Media, 2012), Supernal Factors (The Camel Saloon Books on Blog, 2012), Fluid & Crystallized (Fowlpox Press, 2012), and A Bank Robber’s Bad Luck with His Ex-Girlfriend (Unbound CONTENT, 2011). She’s been nominated once for The Best of the Net in poetry, and three times for the Pushcart Prize in Literature for poetry.