Finding Myself

by A. Molotkov

my whale self floats
as mountains
crouch underneath

my bird self
hops from branch to shaking branch
tweeting in wonder

my wolf self
breathes dark elegy
and forgets to sleep

my insect self
leaps around nothingness
flirting with fire

may my human self
stay alert and humble
at the edge of these mysteries

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Born in Russia, I moved to the US in 1990 and switched to writing in English in 1993. I am the winner of the 2010 New Millennium Writings and the 2008 E. M. Koeppel fiction awards, as well as the 2011 Boone’s Dock Press poetry chapbook contest for my True Stories from the Future. I’m a 1st place winner in Oregon Poetry Association’s 2012 contest. Another poem recently won a contest for a permanent installation in a new Kaiser Permanente medical office building in Oregon. The End of Mythology, a collaborative poetry chapbook co-written with John Sibley Williams, is coming out this year from Virgogray Press. My fiction and poetry has appeared in over 60 publications, both in print and online, and received two Pushcart nominations. My work in other art forms has also been well received. I run the Moonlit Poetry Caravan critique group in Portland and serve as this year’s guest editor for Toe Good Poetry.

Read more of A. Molotkov at www.AMolotkov.com