Michael Berton

Michael Berton

Bio

Michael Berton is a native of El Paso, TX and its 60 mile radius. He has published in a variety of magazines, journals and reviews such as The Cracked Mirror, Otoliths, Indefinite Space, And/Or, Pacific Review, Sin Fronteras Journal, Yellow Medicine Review, Fireweed, REM Magazine, and Hinchas de Poesía. He is the author of a collection of poems, Man! You Script The Mic. (New Mitote Press).

He lives in Portland, OR and can be reached at tzintzuntzan000@gmail.com

Standing Tall In One Hundred Degree Heat

 

Francisco the yardman

for my grandfather

 

waddles along Cliff street

checking front yards

 

for obnoxious weed growth

and tall grass violations.

 

Earthworn tools

in burnished hands

 

homeboy viejo

high noon shadow

 

hunched gentlemanly

as blades separate and snip.

 

A servant to the toil

the sun’s wrath chisled

 

facial sketches

a mask of landscapes

 

sweating with pride

hydrating the skin

 

the soul smiles

the body straightens.

© The Acentos Review 2014