Divinity by Robert Krut
Associate poetry editor Matt Ftacek's on today's bonus poem: From its onset, Robert Krut's "Divinity" builds its own strange, beautiful world. The reader is made to stumble, "virus-blind," into Krut's percussive verse filled with crackling energy and ethereal wonder. To read "Divinity" is to give yourself over to a higher power, to be lifted by the wind like so many flyers.
Divinity
Virus-blind, you stumble to an alley,
under a lentil rainstorm, a preacher
waves rudder arms to the thunder,
makes lightning scatter until five canaries
escape his sleeves, singing condolences,
a misdirection from the transistor radio
around his neck, beneath his vestments,
its zealous torque fusing electrodes
to your breath, turning thoughts to words,
your face a cannon, and the realization
that he was merely a collection of discarded
nightclub flyers lifted by wind
between graffitied walls.
Robert Krut is the author of two books of poetry: This is the Ocean (Bona Fide Books 2013), which received the Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Award, and The Spider Sermons (BlazeVox, 2009). His poems have appeared in numerous journals, both in print and online. His chapbook, Theory of the Walking Big Bang, was published by H_NGM_N Books in 2007; subsequently, he began serving on the press/journal's editorial board. He teaches at the University of California at Santa Barbara and lives in Los Angeles.
