- By Kiana Perez Granados (she/her)
- Art “Coal Oil Point” by Joshua McBryant (he/him)
I
want this
rooster forever,
this old Sun star.
The red on his cheeks
come off like sand
and I know he really
is a mountain and
it wasn’t a myth.
He is a whole hand
holding us all like a
clenched cigarette.
We are slow burning
but we don’t want him to
Stop.
He drives us all into fog,
and I want a tattoo of the gray
Ford Tribute somewhere.
He crinkles up one Sunday
but I didn’t notice until Tuesday.
I don’t say anything, I stay in the car
holding my breath under the tunnel.
When we come out,
we are on the road
like week old roadkill
and the night is a
loitering pedestrian
not calling anyone
no urgency left in anything
we are all just waiting
for him to show up
from some horizon,
like he just forgot to take us
all the rest of the way.
