I look to the internet and to the stars,
for advice and for explanation.
My own feelings are difficult to read.
A coffee-table book of birthdays says
I am of the Week of Balanced Strength
and you the Week of Sensitivity.
The traits of our relationship:
“Honest, unbalanced, supportive,
depressive.” Advice for this pairing:
“aggression isn't necessarily
productive.” To love a friend
is harder than to love a lover.
Easier to ask how did I get here.
Easier to forget why you would
fight to stand in the same place.
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MICHELLE PEÑALOZA grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. Her poetry has appeared most recently in The Asian American Literary Review, TriQuarterly, Oversound, Pinwheel, and INCH. She is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the University of Oregon, Kundiman, Artist Trust, Jack Straw, the Richard Hugo House, and Literary Arts. Her chapbook, landscape / heartbreak, is forthcoming from Two Sylvias Press on Valentine's Day, 2015.
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Poet Douglas Kearney and composer/producer/drummer Val Jeanty link up for a a compelling LP that feels like the written word come to life. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2021