“Urbanología” by Giovanni Mangiante

the closest they got to heaven….

somewhere on Colonial Avenue, engines roar and cough,
and potholes send suspensions to the emergency room.

meanwhile, in a newspaper-littered room with shattered windows
and ripped wallpapers, someone’s liver has retired. 

a cigarette-burnt-winged angel plays the saxophone
on a stool by the counter – the closest they got to heaven.

* * *

en alguna parte de la avenida Colonial, motores rugen y tosen,
y baches mandan suspensiones a la sala de emergencias.

mientras que en un cuarto de vidrios rotos, repleto de periódicos
y tapices rasgados, el hígado de alguien se ha jubilado.

un ángel de alas quemadas por cigarros toca el saxofón
en un banquito cerca al mostrador – lo más cerca que llegaron al cielo.

Giovanni Mangiante is a poet from Lima, Peru. His work has appeared in Studi Irlandesi, Three Rooms Press, Silver Birch Press, and Open Minds Quarterly, with poems forthcoming in The Piker Press and Sledgehammer Lit. He lives with his dog, Lucy. In writing, he found a way to cope with BPD.