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Born Before Luigi, Mario First Appears in the Arcade Game Donkey Kong

Your moustache was never a moustache.

Nebulous absence of light. Rorschach void
collapsed under the tip of your nose.

Event horizon shaved smooth
against spacetime curvature of lip.

Time drags in dead star stubble.
Invented like the constellations.

Infinite density of afternoon shadow.

Shawnte Orion is the author of Gravity & Spectacle, a collaboration with photographer Jia Oak Baker (Tolsun Books), The Existentialist Cookbook (NYQBooks), and Faithful as the Ground (Five Oaks Press). He is an editor for Rinky Dink Press and has performed in bookstores, bars, universities, hair salons, museums, and laundromats.

Issue 19 >