2 poems by Ivan Peledov : “Aside from the Flowers” & “Before and After”

Aside from the Flowers

Babylon-sized spirits of silent birds, winds, and clouds
cover every stone and blade of grass you can see.
They banish all meaning from the valleys and canyons,
they look for hidden eternities of dead tree branches,
for dancing trunks in the wooden afterlife on the hills,
and discarded life forms stuck in the brittle twigs.
How often do you expect to walk this dusty path,
hearing the posthumous music of renegade souls
and greetings of the neighbors under the ever gentle sun?

Before and After

We talk about snowflakes and death 
in the cold, bottomless rooms of itinerant prairie dogs.
Some doors and windows are really butterflies in disguise.
You can’t open them without killing the little things.
They help to keep the emptiness and the dust intact.
Wasted centuries and bogus UFOs distort their wings,
but look at the birds of the sun and their feeders -
brimming with wine.  


Bio: Ivan Peledov lives in Colorado. His poems have been recently published in SORTES, Mad Swirl, Arc Magazine, and Angel Rust. He is the author of the book Habits of Totems (Impspired, 2021). He can be found online on Twitter @habitsoftotems or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ivan.peledov.

Poetry by Ivan Peledov: Places They Don’t Mind