Sammy Bellin

Sammy Bellin

Sammy Bellin lives in Lewisburg, PA. His poetry appears in Rust & Moth, wildscape. literary journal, Barely South Review, Sontag Mag, and more. He likes to buy more books than he can read.

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The Contractor

Sedge and cedar stripe the cliff

opposite my view. They watch me too,

streamer hands waving silent,

my pale nubs more tentative, aloof;

our gulf is vast. The river squirms between,

hesitant to breach, hesitant to intrude,

but distance lacks no pulse. We bear no burden

other than an endless salute.

The juniper bows, and, unworthy, I return

a rigid twist of shame-filled kowtow.

Do they know how I’ll return,

with hatchet and bulldozer and backhoe?

My brow is numb. I blur vision, truth.

The elders afar hold their mighty limbs

erect against an unknown doom.

An unwilling shrine reflects its maker’s sins.

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