Michael David Shorb

Michael David Shorb
Michael David Shorb's work reflects his interest in combining the lyric and satirical modes while addressing real world issues and concerns. He writes frequently about environmental and political issues. His work has appeared in Nation, Michigan Quarterly Review, Commonweal, The Sun, Rattle, Underground Voices, Poetry Salzburg Review, Queen's Quarterly, and European Judaism.

Farm Horses In A Full Moon

this full moon
gaining traction above
a stand of oaks,
the horses can hardly contain
themselves, like restless
children they call among shadows,
singing some tune
long ago honed in their blood,
dancing on a stage
between meadow and moon
their beauty a liquid copper
flowing in a night alive
with delights.

Tunes For Bears To Dance To

I took the cracked kettle
Flaubert offered me,
took it and found
two shinbones, two
sprouts from the flank
of a redwood tree,
began tapping out
tunes for bears to dance to.

The tunes traveled miles
drifting through trackless
forests like smoke,
penetrating cave and progenitor,
come out, I sang
claim love as you enter the world,
bring your sturdy paws
and your need to dance,
we'll dig up the dented horn
and the old violin someone
buried by the river,
we'll find a meadow
bathed in moonlight and
darting with fireflies,
there
     with each lurching
step we can begin
the world again.