ISSUE 2
Zach Bernstein
​
Coral Tree Tea House, Rainy Afternoon
Bent indefinitely on pinching violets
out of the maple’s bark,
you wind-wrestle an umbrella,
your waistcoat flaps fluttering:
the mind shifting
its temperature with the change
of season. You pirouette
in the sodden soot, faltering
before the fountain’s edge––
as when a leaf-bunch gathers
in a swirl, lathering the corners
of a pool before the air relieves
a single leaf to break off
and float alone:
utterly beautiful, utterly unaware.
Zach Bernstein holds a B.A. in English from the University of San Diego and an M.F.A. in poetry from San Diego State University, where he teaches in the Rhetoric and Writing department. His scholarly interests include rhetoric and philosophy in the poetry of John Milton and Wallace Stevens. Currently, he is working on several collections of poetry ranging on such topics as the philosophy of personal identity, the ego, self-reflection, transformation, and the effects of social media on contemporary society.