MATTHEW BROWN

AFTER READING GENNADY AYGI  

To trees in the distance at last I come:
all around, it stands now.  

Soft grasses waist-high,
sifted and bent by wind.
Tan-green bark on high branches.  

All cottonwoods
and two elms at the end of the grove. 

The rest-unending poplar song: 
its shadows pool in afternoon;
the pure parachutes.  

Moment untouched; arch
in eternity's mortar embedded.  

Nothing is sacred, for out of it,
you bring all things.  

You found us dust; but you
have been working still,
until we are; if we want,
you will never stop
until we exist.

__________

MATTHEW BROWN'S FIRST BOOK, AGAIN WITH THE LIGHT, WAS PUBLISHED BY WIPF AND STOCK IN 2020. HE HAS ALSO HAD POEMS APPEAR IN IMAGE 102 AND TWICE IN THE MERTON JOURNAL. AN ARTICLE INCLUDING HIS CORRESPONDENCE AND TRIBUTE POEM TO ROBERT LAX WILL APPEAR IN THE EASTERTIDE EDITION OF THE MERTON JOURNAL. HIS LATEST BOOK, REMEMBER THE BROTHERHOOD, ALSO FROM WIPF AND STOCK, CONSISTS MOSTLY OF POEMS BY HIS LATE FRIEND CARTER LEE ALDRIDGE, ALONG WITH PROSE POEMS CREATED FROM THEIR CORRESPONDENCE.