On the Brooklyn waterfront, 
I wonder how soon the river will rise. 
The sky looks uninspired
when I plead with it. 
I want to see the planets 
my father showed me 
in Lacy Park, the green 
and purple sparkles I thought 
could only appear somewhere 
much more glamorous 
than San Marino. My mother 
wants to stay in California,
to have something to leave 
my sister and me to sell 
when we start our families,
but the fires are about to reduce 
the house’s asking price. 
Before that strange day when the new 
owner picks his favorite room 
to masturbate in, I’d like 
to carry my firstborn 
around every mold-stained corridor 
and point to the cracks I traced 
when the boundless contours of my life 
felt like New York Harbor thrashing 
farther inland over everything 
I decided to call my home.

Published June 8, 2025

Michael Juliani is a poet, editor, and writer from Pasadena, California. His poems have appeared in outlets such as the Bennington Review, Washington Square Review, Sixth Finch, Bear Review, SARKA, and NECK. He has an MFA in poetry from Columbia University and he lives in Los Angeles.

Madhurima Ganguly was born and raised in Indian, Kolkata 1983. She obtained her B.F.A (2007) and M.F.A (2009) from Rabindra Bharati University, India specializing in sculpture. In 2011, she moved to
the United States and since then has been showing her work in various prestigious shows around USA and in India. She had a solo show at the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, Michigan (2018). In the year 2019 and 2022, she had solo shows at River House Arts Gallery in Toledo, Ohio. She is a visual art practitioner and art educator. She is currently represented by River House Art Gallery, Toledo, Ohio and actively shows her works through New York Pen and Brush Gallery. www.madhurimaganguly.com