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Antae

Poetry

April 2024 in New York with a Line from Moonstruck

Anthony Lioi

Volume 9, Issue 1 ,

Photo by Claudio on Unsplash

For Samer Alatout

Cops arrest protesters at CUNY
and the fountain at Lincoln Plaza
helpless and beautiful as God
descends from the Catskills
lit from an unseen source
does silly tricks for children–
fountain goes up!
fountain goes down–
this water reaches
for the desert of Gaza
for the cure at Bethesda
in the world to come
this fountain reflects
blue sky and scrapers
on polished black stone
in the Brutalist plaza
where Moonstruck was filmed.

O Cher!
O Nicolas Cage!
La bella Luna rises
over riot gear and skunk spray
in a world designed, cara mia,
to rip out your heart.

Anthony Lioi

Anthony Lioi has published poetry in Blast Furnace, FAUNA, Now Hear This, Watershed, Environmental Philosophy, The Dark Mountain Project, The Green Humanities, Numinous, Assaracus, and the anthology Poetics for the More-Than- Human World. His work has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. He is at work on a book of poetry called Choirpunk. He lives on a creek called Second River in Montclair, New Jersey, and teaches at the Juilliard School in New York.

In Volume 9, Issue 1