Lynne Bronstein is the author of four poetry collections, Astray from Normalcy, Roughage, Thirsty in the Ocean, and Border Crossings. Her poetry and short fiction have been published in magazines, newspapers, anthologies, and on web sites, including Playgirl, Beyond Baroque Obras, California State Poetry Quarterly, VolNo, Electrum, Poetry Superhighway, poeticdiversity, Silver Birch Press, Chiron Review, Galway Review, Lummox, Spectrum, Voices from Leimert Park, LAst Resort, The Art of Being Human, Revolutionary Poets Brigade, Free Venice Beachhead, Caffeine, OnTarget, Subtletea, The Stone Bird, and Al-Khemia. Recently, her short story "The Magic Candles" was featured on National Public Radio. She has been a journalist for five decades, writing for the Los Angeles Times and other Los Angeles area newspapers.She adapted Shakespeare’s As You Like It as a contemporary Valley-speak spoof which was performed at the Studio City and Hollywood public libraries. She has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes for poetry and for two Best of the Net Awards for short fiction. She won a prize for her short story “Why Me” and two prizes from Channel 37 public access for news writing. She has taught poetry and journalism workshops for children at 826LA and for the Arcadia Library and was cited by the city and county of Los Angeles for her mentoring work with Jewish Vocational Service. A native New Yorker and LA transplant, she lives in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley and has three cats.
Her fiction and poetry deal with women's rights and Jewish identity as well as other personal insights.
The Shape Shifter's Holiday
Changing shape is no big deal
If the shape you’re in feels real.
I’m real enough but far from fabulous.
My natural form is quite gelatinous.
In weather hot or weather cool
I live in an abandoned swimming pool.
The world I came from was the worst.
They left me here and left me cursed
That passing strangers vent their passions
And I become what they imagine
I’ve been a monster who sails on a storm.
I’ve been in and out of uniform
As a member of a star-base army corps
And as a tacky space station whore.
I’ve been a furry toy and a shiny toaster,
A train, a boat, and a roller coaster.
Huge as a rhino and small as a bee.
Blast it! What is my identity?
From where I came, I won’t return.
While here, I think there’s much to learn.
My shape won’t be right if it comes from your fears.
Humans, please send me your best ideas.
Help me to end this alienation
And give me what you call vacation.
I want to walk tall amidst your race
And with your leaders take my place.
Your love will shape me in fine array
And our work will feel like a holiday.
Yet I know I must wait. There will be some time
Until human thoughts become sublime.
Changing shape is no big deal
If the shape you’re in feels real.
I’m real enough but far from fabulous.
My natural form is quite gelatinous.
In weather hot or weather cool
I live in an abandoned swimming pool.
The world I came from was the worst.
They left me here and left me cursed
That passing strangers vent their passions
And I become what they imagine
I’ve been a monster who sails on a storm.
I’ve been in and out of uniform
As a member of a star-base army corps
And as a tacky space station whore.
I’ve been a furry toy and a shiny toaster,
A train, a boat, and a roller coaster.
Huge as a rhino and small as a bee.
Blast it! What is my identity?
From where I came, I won’t return.
While here, I think there’s much to learn.
My shape won’t be right if it comes from your fears.
Humans, please send me your best ideas.
Help me to end this alienation
And give me what you call vacation.
I want to walk tall amidst your race
And with your leaders take my place.
Your love will shape me in fine array
And our work will feel like a holiday.
Yet I know I must wait. There will be some time
Until human thoughts become sublime.
© 2019
Lynne Bronstein
Lynne Bronstein was a Featured Poet at the July 2019 Second Sunday Poetry Series
Lynne Bronstein was a Featured Poet at the July 2019 Second Sunday Poetry Series