Poetry

Landscape with Cheetah Going Seventy in the Serengeti

By DAVID HERNANDEZ

That’s what that russet brushstroke is
below the skyline—her spots
lost in the open plains. That’s hunger 
that blurs her. We cannot see
what she is chasing, but we can
imagine it. Zebra. Gazelle. Impala.
Antelope. The eyes of the animal 
large in its sockets. I like that lone 
acacia tree back there—it has this
bonsai spirit to it. This calm. 
And the trio of almost imperceivable 
stars in the upper corner, those light
pink grains, which remind me we are 
also traveling quick around the sun—
957 times faster than this cheetah,
not to mention the speed of the sun 
inside the Milky Way, and the Milky Way
through cold, dark, soundless space—
1.3 million mph, last time I checked.
Astronomers and physicists did
the math for us, but little did they know
what it would do to human minds 
or hearts—mine is going 
pretty fast now, just thinking about 
our velocity, our spiraling out.
Here, place your palm against it. 
Over my sticker that says Visitor

Landscape with Cheetah Going Seventy in the Serengeti
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Mosaic School

By JOHN POCH

 

The youngest deconstructionists among us
are proud at first to spend their days breaking up
great slabs of fired tile every shade of wine
while the masters climb the scaffolds
with their gold pride, their gilt, reaching for
a sandal buckle or the heights of a halo.

Mosaic School
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Breakfast of Champions

By TINA CANE


I woke up in a panic     this morning thinking     what if my
love language 

is granola?     I found a quiz online     but was too chicken to take it     having had 

Russian bots once read      my face and place me     alongside a woman     holding a mango 

or some bullshit in Gaugin     
                                                    nothing exotic for me     today 

Breakfast of Champions
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