Gávea
Springs loosening, the pout-
lipped locals set to flaking
in damp; seems the luxury
cuckooboxful driven down,
one perpetual screamed-out
boy the troublesome part.
Niterói
Water that Hides
…in the sense of a thickening marble
let slip from a chronic wring,
leagues less intelligible for its ribbed
pasture, for the disapproval
burgeoning all over the country
doctor’s face from his post in exile.
He has just learned to pry open
his own eyes underwater! Now
he gropes for it among rare kelps…
The Land Beyond
…this landing scurrs the blessing
of electric, demurely shaded lamps,
crazed radii beviolencing the sloped
asphalt as in heavier hoofprints
than mine taking place beforehand,
hermetic stewards up-the-stairs
in charged Ragnarok to square
shoulders against the ionosphere…
Circus Fire
…and for all else, carcinoma
is also genius. We don’t wish
for the opportunity to know
valor: we wish valor were
the smaller of two exruciae…
Urca
City of bread. Causeways strained
to loosen glued pages. Broad
crossbolted sun glancing off,
imperious, tricorn horse sense.
Here hamstring indolent loaves,
longshoremen quaffing alescores.
Crust’s cuirass. Hollow-harp
Jennae palmheels wise surfaces’
smalls. Fuzzed-in fungi lawyer
light, mineral basins fulm wheat,
and hers—spelunkable tie-knot
carom gouges mate by. Wherever
welterweight drives lever. Whichever
wheatpaster salutes doomed plaster.
Peter Longofono received his MFA from NYU, where he edited international content for Washington Square Review and served as a Goldwater Fellow. His poems and criticism have appeared or are forthcoming in H_NGM_N, The Bakery, Luna Luna Magazine, tenderloin, and Coldfront. He lives in Brooklyn.
At the edge of a great snowfield Louie Otesanek grew different shapes and shades. His palms are wide and dark and mingled with the highest sky. See more of his work here.
gobbet 