Brian Harman

MACHINELAND
_{—a tribute to Fred Voss}

the machineland was your land
of work for a living
blood sweat and tears
an all too real cliché I’m sure
may have bent your back but didn’t break
your will
your poetry
making the steel bend like van Gogh
made the night sky swirl

the poetryland was your land
of labor for love
write for the rights of working class people
and the dichotomy
of literary machine worker
turning metal sparks into pearls of wisdom
a long beach of heart and humble pie
and dreams of machines sprouting roses
before a takeover of our senses

your voice echoes now in the landscape
while the power of manning machines
is turning Orwellian
of god only knows if there is one
and I say no
god is a hammer
and we need to remember the hands
of the people who shaped this land
who toiled and sacrificed
I stand because of the past
stand for the way things aught to be

a poetic justice in the machineland
a lotus flower shot out of a gun
a TGIF Beer Foam Resurrection
a blue collar beanie
to warm the head from
the cold truths of this cruel world

I sit in my beach chair in the beachland
read the waves
picture the Hawaiian shirt
remember the poet with the pen at the machine
wonder what’s beyond this sunset horizon

BRIAN HARMAN lives in Southern California where he received an MFA in creative writing from California State University, Long Beach, where his mentors include the late Gerald Locklin and Charles Harper Webb. His works have been published in Nerve Cowboy, Chiron Review, Misfit Magazine, Shō Poetry Journal, Meat For Tea, The Literary Underground, and elsewhere. He is the author of Suddenly, All Hell Broke Loose!!!, published through Picture Show Press. He enjoys the beach, craft beer, tacos, loves spending time with his son, and poetry talks with his poetry goddess who he co-runs a used bookstore with, Blue Font Books, in Santa Ana, CA.