Relevẻ

I am honored to be participating in the series Relevẻ – a poetry dance collaboration presented by Atrocious Poets and Christine Chernoff, my awesome wife.

I partnered with Nicole Ozment, a talented dancer and artist, to create “Rewired Reflexes“. Our video piece incorporates my poem and a dance that Nicole created. The whole collection can be found at https://www.atrociouspoets.com/releve.

It was a very cool experience and took me out of my comfort zone as far as how I typically write. The full poem is below, but check out the video for the full effect.

Rewired Reflexes

The world, razed,
cracked open, exposed.
A year’s worth of dust
hangs on your clothes.
You try to blend in,
slow breath through the nose.
You’ve been waiting for this
since a lifetime ago.

Welcome to the
grand re-opening.
As you climb out from
your carry-out carton fortress,
real life streams out
the end of your watch list.
This well-worn world
should be natural
as swearing in traffic.
But it’s hard to shed distrust
of door handles and public laughter.
Suspicious motives
muttered under each breath,
“Grande nitro cold brew, with a shot of espresso.”
One foot anchored safely,
the other flexed
in a tiny mutiny
of rewired reflexes.

Re-navigating sidewalks,
shaking off rust,
re-trusting muscle memory,
a city reborn in brake dust.
Sparkling store fronts promise
your old life.
If you still have the receipts
the latest summer fashions
could be fastened to your feet.

Your body raised,
circumspect, inspected,
exuberance and grief,
an equilibrium so delicate.
It’s too tempting to lean out,
fast forward forget,
disinfect the memories,
your head spinning like roulette.

But instead, you steady focus
in tight alignment.
The body, a conduit.
Thoughts: coiled and magnetic.
Arbitrary elements
distilled down to clear intent.
Sparking up through your arch,
arcing over circuits.
Current racing
through the spine
in controlled explosion.
No path back to old habits,
no normal on which to rely.
You amplify the signal
returning lightning to the sky.

– Rewired Reflexes © Mike Chernoff 8/01/2021

From the collection Carry-out Carton Fortress