Two Poems

Photogenic

The newest form of social media displays the worst times of users’ lives. Snapshots like broken windows. Glimpses of hardships at the swipe of your fingertips. Users can share friends’ photos because there’s unity in misery. A thousand trillion tons of the earth perched upon your shoulder is equivalent to a flood of memories rooted in rot. Comments range from cheerleading the arrival of brighter days to spearheading the descent into an even darker hole. Behind every successful fan club is a devotion that can only be measured in total amount of manic episodes. The same boat produces less sickness when everyone in it is sinking. There’s nothing like starting the day with a double-tap for loving an image so forlorn, it gives your grief hope.

Lavender

For Bre

The most dazzling plants are products of bruises and purity. The melting of amethyst and premature clouds. You expect to see sunsets and are met with vistas intent on reminding you the storm is more of a metaphor than you thought. Secretly fearing being struck by lightning manifests itself in apathy. A shrug of the shoulder is conceding defeat. Pocket-sized dreams that reek of wishful thinking almost-float in sullen puddles that swallow your shoes. Your trauma is your tour guide. “On the left, you can see an abundance of body image issues pointing and waving like good, little, unrelenting ghosts. On the right, we have the proverbial pile of regret you’ll NEVER get over.” The drowning of vegetation is akin to being hugged to death. Even gardeners with the greenest thumbs can sometimes be called killers.

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Daniel Romo is the author of Apologies in Reverse (FutureCycle Press, 2019), When Kerosene’s Involved (Mojave River Press, 2014), and Romancing Gravity (Silver Birch Press, 2013). His poetry can be found in The Los Angeles Review, The Good Man Project, Barrelhouse, and elsewhere. He lives, bench presses, and rides his folding bike in Long Beach, CA. More at danielromo.net.