3/18/19 Lenore Weiss features

3/18/19 Lenore Weiss hosted by Bruce

Lenore  recently won first prize in the Alexandria Quarterly Press small stories series for her flash fiction chapbook, Holding on to the Fringes of Love.  Lenore has read in different cities across the country and performed on the radio. Her three poetry collections form a trilogy about being mortal: Cutting Down the Last Tree on Easter Island (West End Press, 2012); Two Places (Aldrich Press, 2014), and The Golem (Hadassa Word Press, 2017). In reviewing Two Places, Nina Serrano wrote, “Weiss’ mind travels like the speed of light from the real, to the symbolic and the surreal.” Lenore tutors middle-school students and volunteers at Oakland’s writing center, Chapter510.

Black is the Color

Black is the color of my true love's hair

and Marlon Brando's motorcycle jacket,

each tooth a silver zipper.

Black is the color of roadies

drinking beer down the street

at the Big Dipper.

Black is the color of Johnny Cash 

who kept praying for 'Nam

to be over in a flicker.

Black is the color of T-shirts

of high-tech workers

designing glass slippers.

Black is the color of a woman

stoned on a red carpet

because a veil didn't fit her.

Black is the color of people who fade

behind the sidelines of center stage.

Black is the color of our grueling age.

Chorus:

And sorry, I drive a Ferrari.

Bob Dylan (or insert another name)

didn't wear black to the Grammys.

He wore gold.