Second Dialogue Publication
I got two more poems and a photograph published in my University's literary journal, Dialogue. Because they don't publish them online, here is the photo and my two poems.
A Beer in Nagoya
As I pour
jasmine tea into
small cups with
ceramic koi fish,
my dad tells me stories
about Japan—about a
custom where restaurants
give you cups just larger
than a shot glass
and a beer.
You have to fill the glass of your
companion—never yourself—
unless offended by their inattention.
I can see myself walking down
the streets after a night of beer
like my father did.
Though it wouldn’t be my
first cigarette, I’d follow
in his footsteps down
Nagoya—wasted—
blowing smoke
toward dull stars
after singing
Take on Me
in karaoke.
Incandescent
Oxford’s two examples of incandescent:
Plumes of incandescent liquid rock
Mravinsky’s incandescent performance of Siegfried’s funeral march
Both sentence fragments—
fragments that could end the same way:
glistened with the hollow glow
of an empty summer night.
I am honored to have been published by dialogue and to have participated in Calvin's literary scene. My advice to any young writer is to submit your work to places in your community that publish. I wish I had submitted to dialogue earlier.