Poetry by A. Molotkov

A Bright Pile of Reasons

Perhaps you wake with a start, a stranger, a headache,
an earthquake, an enemy. Perhaps your house

is on fire, or just your mind. You don’t

remember how you got here. A burned out
light bulb on a wire. A dusty room. It’s not

enough to be alive; our species

demands a story, a reason
behind a pile of bones. And our own

miniature worlds inside our skulls, what

rules do they follow? Is the sun I see
the same sun you find in your sky? And if

my brain lived in your head, would your

headache be different? These imprecise
identities we live in, polish as time

fades us. A light

bulb on
a wire. A dark

room.

Key

This side
of the river’s falling,

the gaping
mouth of light, its golden

whisper. This must be

how we open and are
replaced. A red

barn, a white
horse.

Excess of Light

I approve of the dark, its sharp corners, its long
branches, its imagined holes in the floor, […]

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Born in Russia, A. Molotkov moved to the US in 1990 and switched to writing in English in 1993. His poetry collection, The Catalog of Broken Things, is just out from Airlie Press. Published by Kenyon, Iowa, Cincinnati, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Tampa, Raleigh, New Orleans and Cider Press Reviews, Pif, Volt, Ruminate, 2 River and many more, Molotkov is winner of various fiction and poetry contests and a 2015 Oregon Literary Fellowship. His translation of a Chekhov story was included by Knopf in their Everyman Series. He co-edits The Inflectionist Review. Please visit him at AMolotkov.com.