German Dario

German Dario (he/him) resides in Tempe, Arizona with his wife, two sons, three dogs, a guinea pig, many plants, and sometimes a fish. Recently published work in Novus Literary Arts Journal, Opossum, Gargoyle Magazine, Gyroscope Review, and San Pedro River Review. His poem “sanctuary” was short listed in 2021 for the Five South Poetry Prize.

compass

a couple waits at the abandoned bus stop

the man stands with his hands in his pockets
looking towards the sunrise behind
the apartment building

the woman sits with her hands clasped
between her legs
watching the rare car and breeze pass by

the distance between them
is a curtain of the unsaid

his      too comfortable conversations
with the occasional coworker


her      with the young teacher
having been left to deal alone
with the children’s schooling


all the moments where “no”
kept them steady
gather dust in the cluttered rooms
of memory


the man’s left hand comes out of his pocket
opens to receive her right hand
and they walk true north

late october

for all the dreams short lived
for all the sighs brief and deep
i will build a castle

cars have their streets
people their houses
we     moved to the wind

for all the nights i walked to nowhere
and ended at your side
for you, who waited     arms crossed
i will build a castle

to moments we sent
like arrows to autumn stars
i will dig a grave

the rooms are empty in october
in what we once called us

No te vayais

While the sun in its daily pilgrimage reminds the mortal of mortality, she does subtraction, linear
differences in distance, age and burdensome inhibitions. The water’s song on the shore telling —
no, singing — another story, don’t leave, keep returning to the ocean’s salted lips of that first
kiss,
The horizon devouring every ray of light, turning sky to a dark curtain, the waves summoning
touch, making little flashes of desire in the mind, don’t leave. North of the equator, thirst
transforms exponentially to dream, our feet slowly moving on the sand, a small fortune of time.


NOVUS Literary and
Arts Journal
Lebanon, TN