A POEM by MARCO VISCIOLACCIO

Untitled Florida Poem Dedicated to Dr. Norman Thagard

Pissing, my stall door open in meditation
at the gas station bathroom off I-95
in Mims, Brevard County, Florida desolate
sweating my tuchus off
both hands on hips I chuff a vape
my stream Strong

Over a shoulder
on this humid Thursday, air hot salty
the bathroom’s broken mirror shows launch
See: a satellite from Cape Canaveral
Which you can never see from anywhere thought Important
or Worthy

I squint as the rocket splits through clouds
its red-white colors chemtrail
& I zip my fly
knowing all over Kissimmee, Rockledge
teachers discourage their students from staring into the sun inspired
while like all those future Floridian intellectuals
Delta-9 exhaust escapes my nostrils
like Liftoff

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Marco Visciolaccio (he/him) is an author in Asheville, North Carolina. He edits Flash Fiction for French Broads Lit, a publication celebrating authors in Southern Appalachia. He is a former translator and future deadbeat.