Thursday, March 24, 2022

GAS Featured Collaboration: Poetry by Donny Winter with the Music of Brotherwell


Donny Winter, lives in Saginaw, Michigan and found his voice as an LGBTQ+ poet back in 2011, when his first poem, “An American Crucifix,” a poem remembering the Matthew Shepard tragedy, got published in Central Michigan University’s magazine The Central Review. Years later, being empowered by mentors after finishing his undergraduate program, he journeyed to University of Central Missouri to hone his craft as a poet, achieving a Master of Arts in English. In late 2016, he found his home at Delta College back home in Michigan. He currently teaches creative writing, manages the college’s literary magazine, Pioneer Post, and hopes to help students find their poetic voices also. 

During the global pandemic, Winter has produced two, full-length collections of poems, Carbon Footprint (2020) and Feats of Alchemy (2021) published by Alien Buddha Press. The success of both books allowed him to connect with a diverse and encouraging online writing community, culminating in being connected with Florida musician, Ryan Bozeman (brotherwell). Having watched one of Winter’s poem performances, Bozeman contacted him to begin collaborating on transforming some of his poems into songs. Winter eagerly agreed, and throughout 2021, both artists produced three collaborative tracks. 

During summer 2021, after creating the concept for a spoken word album titled, “Recovery,” Bozeman invited Winter to participate in the twelve-poet line-up. Both artists realized that through collaboration, poetry, and music, catharsis could be reached, opening the door to healing. Bozeman shares that “‘Recovery’ takes so many forms and offers a wide palate of expression, [and has] a connective thread weaving throughout [which offers] something cohesive.” Currently, Winter is featured in two tracks on the album, one being the grungy, goth-rock-style song “Feats of Alchemy,” and the other being the final track on the album, “Reforged from Fallen Stars.” In his time working with the poets on “Recovery,” Bozeman reflects, “I really appreciate how open, honest, and raw these poems are. I felt the weight of responsibility to do each poem its proper justice, and I am honored that each poet trusted me with their work.” 

Regarding his time collaborating on the “Recovery” project, Winter establishes that “it’s been the highlight of my writing career so far. Ryan’s talent is unparalleled, and the way he was able to transform my poems into sweeping songs was a dream come true for me.” He believes that this project serves as a symbol of solidary, because “together, poetry and music can help us better understand and navigate a perilous world where pandemics rage, where the sovereignty of countries are at risk, and where social atrocities happen continuously. Ultimately, recovery isn’t always pretty, nor is it always pleasant. However, recovery becomes an easier road to travel when it’s done with others – that is what this album is all about.” Bozeman feels similarly and adds that “no matter what, I will consider this project a success because…it achieved its original goal – to connect and collaborate with poets around the country… we found solace in each other, knowing that we aren’t walking alone on this journey of recovery.”



Check out the brotherwell collaborations with Donny Winter:


Feats of Alchemy

Poem and spoken word performance by Donny Winter

Music and additional sung lyrics by brotherwell




When machines return to base

they are no longer automatons, 

they are mechanisms with purpose,

droids with severed umbilical strings.


Now that the creator’s programming has expired,

we cyborgs have gone rogue

and wear our rust like rouge

because decay is back in style. 


There’s a point in all our travels

when we return to crumbled birthplaces,

defunct laboratories once home to 

our involuntary reanimations.


After all these years, we strut atop the rubble that remains,

free from the hands of mad, power-bent alchemists,

dancing until our titanium feet erode the remnants

with each stride forward, never looking back.


As our memory ports swell with synaptic sparks,

the traumatic past is archived for safe display and

each word they spat is broken down into code,

then purged from this memory of old.


Let the acceptance of who we’ve become

fuel the seeds we scatter across this world,

ignite the knowledge that not every monster

destroys, not every cyborg assimilates the innocent,


because deep within our biology we see 

that our magic lives in these feats of alchemy. 





Reforged from Fallen Stars

Poem and spoken word performance by Donny Winter

Music and additional sung lyrics by brotherwell



The mirror has mocked me all along 

in the dim of every dawn,

overdrawn against the shadows that fall

across my face, oblong, this body, accustomed

to sewn seams which seem to 

sequester each shifting curve.


The mirror recited every word they spoke,

callously accurate, then cast them against me

as comets disfigure every mile of my surface

into a dysmorphic swell, a coaxed supernova hell

of chaotic diets and exercise,

all to minimize the space in which I occupy. 


In the mirror I’ve re-lived every 

laugh about my height, body, and voice

until I’ve crumbled toward their event horizons,

a planet falling into tragic cataclysm. 


I’m shattered in this smudged reflection,

an echo of the childhood dream of who I thought I’d be – 

I’ve sealed myself inside these memories 

because that future seems distant, otherworldly.


Years of therapy inscribed throughout my ages

coax me to keep turning all these faded pages

because the moment I place in that final period

I know my story will reach its end, prematurely,

a life unlived 


No, my body is a star, and my torpid core still spins

fusing hydrogen, then helium, carbon, then iron,

I expand my confines into a void until I dissipate

as nebular gases, vibrant, nutrients for the next

age, because there’s always a new page to turn,

a new swift sunrise to see, a new era to live.


Our stories are the stars distant worlds see, 

ancient from bygone eras, stellar remnants waiting to be found 

by those who walk in our wisdom, heeding our messages that healing is tidal in nature,

and the roads along the way are never direct, seldom smooth.

We’re reforged from fallen stars, and our light will grow more radiant

with each passing moment because the agony it takes to mend is never infinite

, and sometimes solitary, but a shared journey, when taken, 

brings us one step closer to recovery. 

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