Michelle Greenblatt appeared in Issue 26 with [I hum a melody], a compact prose poem built from repetition, hesitation, memory, color, and a voice that keeps undoing its own certainty.
Michelle Greenblatt in the historical archive
Issue 26 contributor note identifies Greenblatt as the author of brain:storm and records publications in several journals, along with her work as a poetry editor at the time. Her the historical archive poem is brief, yet its movement depends on a tightly controlled sequence of self-correction and recurrence.
[I hum a melody]
The poem begins with an ordinary action: humming. From there, the speaker moves through obligation, forgetting, suspicion, and repetition. Each sentence alters the status of the one before it. What seemed important becomes uncertain; what seemed forgotten returns as a possibility.
Repetition and self-correction
Greenblatt repeats phrases with small changes in syntax and emphasis. “I forget” returns after the speaker has questioned whether forgetting has really occurred. This recursive motion gives the poem its structure, turning memory into a process that continually revises itself.
Curve, sharpness, and paradox
The paired images of curve and sharpness introduce a compact paradox: each property enters the other. The language briefly treats physical description as a problem in logic, then returns to the unstable voice of memory. That compression gives the poem a distinctive intellectual pressure.
Green, color, and voice
The closing cry of “Green!” shifts the poem into a more theatrical register. Color becomes sound, accusation, name, and interruption. The sudden change in voice leaves the ending open, carrying the poem from inward hesitation into public exclamation.
Further reading
Continue through the archive’s pages on modern poetry, sound in poetry, and imagery in poetry.