Ink-stained

I know that someday,

they'll arrive,

knocking on

my door

after reading my poems

found in discarded

Hallmark cards,

but two or three

night wanderers

will appear on the same day.

And we will sit around,

swallow beer,

argue about reality t.v. shows.

And then they will all leave

in a police car together.

And I will write about

them in

my undies

drinking too many

Mules while

spreading rumors

for no damn reason.

And paint a couple

of dimb-witted

portraits of a rat

being swallowed

by a snake

while a fly

dangles from

the rafters,

begging to

be eaten.

I know that someday,

our untamed rivers will

leave footprints

of silent echoes on the

faded fibers beyond the

margins of parchment words.

Chris Mardiroussian is a Lecturer in the Department of English at California State University, Long Beach. His most recent book is a full-length collection of poetry entitled BLUNDER DOWN UNDER, which Chasing Shadows Magazine called, "A stark and raw style of writing that clearly constitutes the life of a typical miscreant." In 2019, he won First Prize in the Cinema Italian Style Film Festival (sponsored by the prestigious American Cinematheque in Los Angeles) for his short film entitled IL BREAKUP, which he co-wrote and produced. In 2017, he co-wrote a collection of poetry entitled HONESTY. LOVES. CRUELTY. He has also worked on several independent films such as Friends in High Places (2021), nominated for Mexico City’s International Film Festival, The First Color (2020), won the Disability Issues Award, and The Ties that Bind Us (2019), won the Gold Award for Independent Shorts. His work has appeared in Bloom Magazine, BOMBFIRE, Ice Lolly Review, Maythorn Magazine, Perfumed Pages, Pomona Valley Review, Poetically Magazine, Soul Talk Magazine, and elsewhere. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.