Current
Issue
Volume 12.1
Michael Juliani
—
Missing Diagnosis
I walk the sunset down
to the credit union. Buzzed
from the Don’t Tread on Me
Irish pub, clouds disperse.
Here, just metaphor,
the seasons don’t change,
like what the doctors
call your deeply unfortunate
mystery. The Gold Line train
bends through town
like a siren carving jacaranda.
No children leave pennies.
Only the occasional crunch
when electrified gears
snarl the brakes. A plumber
throws hunks of French bread
to the crows, and the parrots
sound animatronic,
bunched in some tree
I’m convinced has no name.
Michael Juliani is a poet, editor, and writer from Pasadena, California. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in outlets such as The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, Bennington Review, Washington Square Review, and Sixth Finch. He has an MFA in poetry from Columbia University.
