It starts with[1]
a hush a
howl a
hiss in the
darkness there’s no grabbing onto
tomorrow might have been blown away
turned projectile a broken windshield
a shattered window drowned
in a whirlpool of mud
it starts with a drip a
patter of molecules
a downpour of cold cutting fury
a steady seeping through your
duct-taped windows
duct-taped roof
duct-taped walls
duct-taped hands praying
that roaring body doesn’t burst out of its bed
it starts with
a rumble a
shuffle of dirt
an epilepsy of earth
an avalanche of sticks and soil
breaking through your window
down your
throat forced landscape
a flesh-pot of rotting life
it starts with
a two-week notice a
diagram of spiraling tie-dye
and ends
with your home wooden splinters
a door knob
in the palm of your hand
After hurricane María’s passing through Puerto Rico, September 19, 2017.
Ana Portnoy Brimmer is a poet and performer, creative nonfiction writer and ARTivist. She holds a BA in English (Literature) from the University of Puerto Rico, is currently pursuing an MA in Literature at University of Puerto Rico, and will be an MFA candidate in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Rutgers University-Newark in the Fall 2018. Ana is the recipient of the Sandra Cisneros Fellowship, for a Latinx writer of literary promise and leadership, awarded by Under The Volcano International. She is also a Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation-VONA/VOICES Fellow in Poetry, an Under The Volcano Fellow in Poetry and Journalism, a Las Dos Brujas Writing Workshop Alumna in Poetry, and an inaugural Moko Writers’ Workshop Alumna in Poetry. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Huizache: The Magazine of Latino Literature, Kweli Journal, Puerto Rico en mi Corazón, Poets Reading The News, Project Censored, La Respuesta, The Acentos Review, Moko Magazine, Centro Journal, Under The Volcano/Bajo el Volcán: The Best of Our First Fifteen Years, among others. She employs poetry and writing as tools for activism, her creative work being socio-politically committed. Ana is the daughter of Mexican-Jewish immigrants, she was born in New York, but was raised, and currently lives, in Puerto Rico. For more about Ana and her work, visit http://anaportnoybrimmer.com/
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