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ABUNDANT LIF<\/strong>E<\/p>\n\n\n\n Children huddled over fresh linoleum motionless as miniatures<\/p>\n\n\n\n on the corner shelf faculty staff freaked<\/p>\n\n\n\n outside the classroom running shouting<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018active shooter\u2019<\/em>. The third-grade teacher grips<\/p>\n\n\n\n scissors pressed to her chest behind the battle door of<\/p>\n\n\n\n innocence against the world coming to call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such dark distributed learning police <\/p>\n\n\n\n medics, Alcohol, Tobacco, and <\/p>\n\n\n\n Firearms in sight of the Office of Abundant Life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mimed weekly in classroom simulations<\/p>\n\n\n\n school leaders would forearm learners<\/p>\n\n\n\n against insensible reality not<\/p>\n\n\n\n invisible root wounds of the soul<\/p>\n\n\n\n that never can<\/p>\n\n\n\n stop<\/p>\n\n\n\n bleeding out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n CHINA STORY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He recalls the midsummer night’s lush thunderlight <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anhui Province soldier and pals patrolling<\/p>\n\n\n\n a fire tower an earthquake<\/p>\n\n\n\n pitching the old brick station trapped<\/p>\n\n\n\n in the dread rubble dark friends<\/p>\n\n\n\n consorting with death before he broke<\/p>\n\n\n\n free. Years later<\/p>\n\n\n\n he lives blood quickened by revenants’<\/p>\n\n\n\n hushed lament in twilight\u2019s red dust settling<\/p>\n\n\n\n longs to leave for Kansas because he must<\/p>\n\n\n\n live free from airless brick-laid spaces <\/p>\n\n\n\n stubbled fields of grass he needs <\/p>\n\n\n\n broad enough for ghosts to breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n My grandfather whose cognomen I wear<\/p>\n\n\n\n through the world I am told percolated coffee<\/p>\n\n\n\n for all of a week. He felt each grain<\/p>\n\n\n\n part of ancestral Cracow<\/p>\n\n\n\n soil to hold dearly and so he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We called him dziadzi,<\/em> silent<\/p>\n\n\n\n figure in a stone white bed smelling of<\/p>\n\n\n\n camphor, a piece of dried bread<\/p>\n\n\n\n between the sheets. Where coffee brews now<\/p>\n\n\n\n across the years from newer grounds I sip<\/p>\n\n\n\n muddied flavor of a Polish town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n DREAM\u2019S BODY<\/strong> SPEAKS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I stumble under June moonshine over<\/p>\n\n\n\n salal shrubs rabbit brush clustered racemes<\/p>\n\n\n\n catch a verdant hand of forest moss padding<\/p>\n\n\n\n the damp branch of a hemlock peel<\/p>\n\n\n\n strips of bark for a small fire <\/p>\n\n\n\n liquorish fern feint breath of blackberry afloat<\/p>\n\n\n\n on the smoke. I drift inside <\/p>\n\n\n\n dream\u2019s body bereft of daylight<\/p>\n\n\n\n wisdom of nothing less than everything – <\/p>\n\n\n\n specters of high strangeness deep obfuscation <\/p>\n\n\n\n argot of the soul. Try to understand<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m showing you <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n something<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n of my life.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ABUNDANT LIFE Children huddled over fresh linoleum motionless as miniatures on the corner shelf faculty staff freaked outside the classroom running shouting \u2018active shooter\u2019. The third-grade teacher grips scissors pressed to her chest behind the battle door of innocence against the world coming to call. Such dark distributed learning police medics, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms … Continue reading Poetry of Peter M. Rojcewicz, PhD<\/span> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
NAMESAKE<\/h1>\n\n\n\n