Poetry
Grounded in anticapitalist thought and shaped by Jewish, feminist, and queer theory, my poetry interrogates the dynamics of power, desire, and identity. As Audre Lorde asserts, the personal is political; language functions both as a tool for challenging dominant ideologies and as a medium for disrupting systems of power. My work draws on dramatic literature and ancient myth to examine how narratives construct, constrain, and complicate identity, and how these cultural symbols of authority and domination can be reclaimed as acts of defiance and renewal. Influenced by Aristotle’s notion of catharsis, I am particularly interested in the performative power of language—its capacity to evoke transformation and provoke critical engagement. Writing, in this sense, becomes a ritual of connection.
lilac on the damned’s breath
"Greene's [poetry] is extraordinary. They can do the dramatic monologue that mines bravura effects and the power of paradox, and they can go beyond that to poems that are haunting, dialogic and create suggestiveness rather than relying on the power of kinetic language. Experiment in poetry can often be a vernacular going back to Max Jacob via Krazy Kat: Greene [transcends] that and [creates] really new art: inversions, reversals, interrogations of syntax that [have] urgency and authenticity."
D. Nurkse, Author of A Country of Strangers: New and Selected Poems
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before my father passed away in 2017, he planted four lilac bushes on the hill outside of my childhood home: one for him, one for my mom, one for my sister, & one for me. the ground in that part of new york is rocky & dry; simply put, they should not have taken to the land. by sheer force of an aries’ will, a miracle, or perhaps just a deep love for walt whitman, they’re still blooming every spring.
my debut poetry chapbook lilac on the damned’s breath is a love letter to loss; to impermanence; to forgiveness (even in the face of abandonment). like the lilacs, it seems impossible—on some days it is—but i promise a new spring will always come.
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this chapbook contains mentions of death, abuse, sexual assault, & bodily harm. lilac on the damned’s breath is poetically fictionalized & inspired by works of poetic fiction. as such, it cannot be taken as fact in any way, shape, or form. re: the cliche disclaimer, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events in this chapbook is purely coincidental. it is a cathartic reflection of my perspective, my opinions: nothing more.
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lilac on the damned’s breath is available on bottlecap press’ website: https://bottlecap.press/products/lilac
Selected Published Poetry
*Best of the Net nominee
“snowed like this on fulton street”*
Midway Journal
“when we (two jews) fuck, we sound like a klezmer band—”
West Trade Review
“a home made out of hip bones”
Voicemail Poems
“capital (we are unwilling descendants of adam smith)”
Eunoia Review
“(now again) i am calling out”
Defunct Magazine
“west side bar”
Breakbread Magazine
Selected Anthology Contributions
“lavender on my forehead on ash wednesday”
Playing Authors
“academic discourse (or, a poet in the after hours)”
A Thousand Flowers
“dear Leo (reprise)”
Poets Choice
“three card tarot spread”
Dreams in Hiding
“gutshot (betting on an inside straight)”
The Spell Jar