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the simple pleasure of looking up at the stars while walking on the pavement

Writing by Paola Valentina. Illustration by Zoë Dutton.


i recall only some regrets,

and sigh cigarettes knowing

these cobblestones guard

the most grotesque secrets;

will the sidewalk ever end?


between segments of plastic

(both human and object)

it is certain love is lost

in the concrete bends;

where does the sidewalk end?


and then

in the night


eyelashes twirl into telescope segments

and I tilt my head just far enough

to forget where i placed my mortal body

in the abyss or the emptiness?


there’s hints of us from long ago:

white stars in eternal waltz

retracing genesis as it was

a slow expansion of relief


im a visitor to docile cosmos

the sweet hosts of my dreams

giant ghosts in the open dark

who turn to dust in light years


im fond of freckle constellations

that guide me in my solitude

navigating titillations

only i know the translations to


ive forged allies in the planets

with mysterious desires

distance is of little meaning

and i need not inquire


my skin’s taken in by a beckoning moon

opportune honeymoon and symphonic tunes

absorbed her history as my memory

i am a gradient of me and she


and i am here, where the

sidewalk ends.


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