Darin Ciccotelli

SOON

Castles. Desiccated forest the color of hatbands.
The fantasy balked from swollen
cornflakes and got up suddenly. Waxy flags
popped in light.

Bright wainscoting sheathed the country walls.
The donuts greased a bakery box,
cretinous and itching for brains.

A wish became pragmatic scorn
explaining the election as one thing.
Jealous policemen wandered
and with a Dasani bottle clubbed air.

Autumn sloshed its canned peaches.
Scared sounds twinkled assertiveness
with desperation.

DARIN CICCOTELLI is a 2017 NEA Fellow. His poems appear Antioch Review, Conjunctions, Denver Quarterly, Fence, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Subtropics. He teaches at Soka University of America.