TWO POEMS BY NICK SOLURI

i met victor frankenstein in a dream

& i made him cry when i

asked him what the meaning

of life was

he stood before me naked

with tears running down

his body

we were in the arctic

drinking whiskey with

ice from the ground

& small cherries we’d

spit the pits out into

our palms

& he asked me about

god & i told him

i thought i was looking

at him until i saw him

spit that cherry pit out

& i told him no god

would throw away life

& he went to slap me

but missed like a coward

a pussy with his back turned

to me

he walked back into the

arctic fog & i was left

holding my cherries

looking for a place to

plant them

hide & seek

we hid in attics with our hands

tied behind our backs

& felt the world watching us

when the knock on the door came

“where are you? are you in there?”

i buried my mouth in your shoulder

& we did not make a sound

because our lives were at stake

& costly moves make for fools

we were told to get out & that

they’d found us up there a long time ago

but we knew we’d be safe in the dark

we learned that hiding away

in the attics when they tell you

the game is over means more

to you than it does to them

& when we were alone up there

i did not feel afraid like normal

but able to see in the dark with

your eyes lighting the way for

me to find my way back to you

Nick Soluri is an undergraduate at Union College in New York. His words have appeared in Occulum, Albany Poets, The Slag Review, Boston Accent, Heroin Chic Magazine, The Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine, and others. His social media links are all @nerkcelery