Alex C. Eisenberg
I grew up a child of the Pacific Northwest, but my ancestors are from Eastern Europe. A gardener, grief worker, and rite of passage guide, I am fascinated by death, decay, and the transformative process of rebirth. My recent trip to Poland and Auschwitz to explore my ancestry and heritage is catalyzing into a photo-poetry project entitled “What Grows at the Gates of Death” which two of my submitted poems come from (see more at https://alexandriaceisenberg.wordpress.com/projects/). You can also find my poems in River Heron Review, About Place Journal, and Tiny Seed Literary Journal.
Sweet Heart
Sorrow smacks a spiel in my heart each spring.
The sap of my center drips like syrup
through a thousand pinpricks perspiring
from the thin membrane of me, sending
scented songs across a barren world and
beckoning the beings who’ve been asleep
for the sweetless season. I lay myself out
like an abandoned banquet, expecting no one
to notice or to come. But the bees and the hungry
hummingbirds will hear me sing my sadness
and come to drink of me.
Sheila-Na-Gig online 