A short selection of poetry from “AVANT-GARDEN” an upcoming collection of poetry by Jana Astanov
***
and since you wonder
what I am like minutes after
the early Spring thunder
soft nipples
purple-pink lilacs
eye-lashes
blue butterflies
fingers and toes
wings against the mist of the mountain streams
thighs
the birds song that carries through the forest
with conviction of love and oneness
lips
the mystery of the Lunar eclipse
with crown shaped by new green
tongue
fragrant desire for the May eruption
and just here
Beltane’s signs words secrets
***
I was a dried mountain stream
now
the snowdrops spur from
mossy bones
yellow laughter
and sunshine
and through the heads of coltsfoot
peaks nude fate
and now come visions of my cosmic womb
and now come visions of my native soil
and now
now I’m Spring
on the tongues of weeping and shy forsythias
ready for feral hands and the
squirting twisting resurrection and
Indecent eruption of my will to be
***
so let’s say things are perfect
all I need to do is to collect the words,
gather all my love spells in a medicine bag made from
the hair and skin of praSlavic dragon bride
crush the letters, all the ones conceived since March
mix them with the scent of magnolias
with the scent of wild garlic
with the scent of summer snowflake
with the scent of cherry blossom
the scent of wild daffodils and periwinkle
trust the early Spring hues of green and blue
trust the shepherd’s dog to gather the herd of woolly feelings
talk to the forest
gather supplies
summon Lakshmi and Lada
allow yourself to love only with your hands
Jana Astanov with her favourite Polish Datura plant
photo by Kasia Lada Pietkiewicz, May 2021.
Jana Astanov is an interdisciplinary artist, a poetess and an independent curator born in Mazury Lake District of Poland and currently living in the Shawangunk Mountains, in upstate New York. She is the author of five collections of poetry: Antidivine, Grimoire, Sublunar, The Pillow Book of Burg, and Birds of Equinox. Follow her on IG @Jana_Astanov
