Aging in exile No joy for youOnly a repetition of joyOnly a joyHere to rejoiceIn the sake of itselfIf you were a tribal man, a tribeWould walk you through all things neededTo rejoiceIn joyWalking in sync, side by side, laughing stepsEnergy of legsShoulders behaving, wild and unexpectableIn tribeWitness from a distance you foolish foeWitness the … “AGING IN EXILE” – AFTER A SONG, SIROCCO”

I saw you once Once, when the world now ending, Was first beginning, Thou immortal star of heaven everlasting Revealed thyself to me: In the ripe buds of freshly birthed spring In sensations of raindrops on my skin In the wondrous eye of every living babe In the cow eating grass like Buddha In the … “I SAW YOU ONCE” – “III.” – “VI.”

The worldDoesn’t Owe youHappiness Just asThe world Doesn’t oweThe hippo happiness — David Romanda’s work has appeared in places such as Gargoyle Magazine, The Louisville Review, The Main Street Rag, PANK, and Puerto del Sol. His book is “the broken bird feeder” (Trouble Department, 2022). He lives in Kawasaki City, Japan.

FUTURE APPLIANCES. Spiderwebs hung from the washing line. Autumn crept into my bones like small cell carcinoma. I consulted with a bottle of red. It said everything would come up petals and sprig leaves before the spring but added mysteriously, that I should avoid flying for at least the next seventeen years. I blustered through … “FUTURE APPLIANCES” – “POSTCOITAL”