Flower Explorations 6 by Valentina Luna
Nathan Erwin | Last Dream
In the apocalypse of the Alleghanies,
no one rises up into the sky. Far off, the Buffalo cityscape burns
& heaven holds close to the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds,
as the rawhide ropes tied to the sky, shaped of quartz
& other singing minerals, snaps.
& it’s like the earth never existed. What should you tell the children?
That their father has fallen, shattered his jaw, in the last K-Mart in the east?
That they must drown a cat in the creek as sacrifice? As your wells
fill up will Atrazine, hold
tight to death.
Once the world was all flood & we were just a smattering of cells.
Our world is now a smattering of bodies. Dream.
You are dragged by your hair to an empty patch of earth
& buried to the bone. Injustice & exploitation
leave the earth in the form of tobacco smoke.
Everyone shoots up in their home as the crater of the sky falls.
And of course,
in undying love,
the Alleghanies renew themselves, again & again,
a smoking drum that we play & play.
no one rises up into the sky. Far off, the Buffalo cityscape burns
& heaven holds close to the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds,
as the rawhide ropes tied to the sky, shaped of quartz
& other singing minerals, snaps.
& it’s like the earth never existed. What should you tell the children?
That their father has fallen, shattered his jaw, in the last K-Mart in the east?
That they must drown a cat in the creek as sacrifice? As your wells
fill up will Atrazine, hold
tight to death.
Once the world was all flood & we were just a smattering of cells.
Our world is now a smattering of bodies. Dream.
You are dragged by your hair to an empty patch of earth
& buried to the bone. Injustice & exploitation
leave the earth in the form of tobacco smoke.
Everyone shoots up in their home as the crater of the sky falls.
And of course,
in undying love,
the Alleghanies renew themselves, again & again,
a smoking drum that we play & play.
Nathan Erwin is a land-based poet raised on the Allegheny Plateau, the northernmost tier of Appalachia. A community organizer, Erwin currently operates at the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust building healthy futures for indigenous farmers and organizing around the 2023 Farm Bill and tribal land repatriation. His writing has recently appeared in The Journal, North American Review, FOLIO, Bombay Gin, Poet Lore, and Ninth Letter. His organizing and his poetry are conversant, and so he writes about land, foodways, myths, medicine, and wanting.
Born in 1995 and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, Valentina Luna moved to Mexico City to study at Universidad Iberoamericana where she obtained a BBA in Business Administration in 2017. In CDMX Valentina studied art intermittently, until moving to New York City in 2023 to continue her studies at The Art Students League of New York, Parsons School of Design, and New York School of the Arts.
Valentina's diverse background has allowed her to gain experience in various disciplines, and enrich her multi-cultural heritage and unique perspective, continuing her journey into the play of light and color, capturing the essence of the world that envelops us, while remaining firmly grounded in the realms of pleasure and aesthetics. Valentinas' work draws profound inspiration from the dynamic culture and lush landscapes of her homeland, Colombia.
Valentina's diverse background has allowed her to gain experience in various disciplines, and enrich her multi-cultural heritage and unique perspective, continuing her journey into the play of light and color, capturing the essence of the world that envelops us, while remaining firmly grounded in the realms of pleasure and aesthetics. Valentinas' work draws profound inspiration from the dynamic culture and lush landscapes of her homeland, Colombia.
