Youthful honesty amongst the green by Giovanni Mangiante

I tried writing a poem about nature while at the park,

no cigarette breath, no cheap coffee,

no mental illness, no drunken babbles,

nothing.

It was just me sitting on a park bench

looking at the flowers, the trees,

the kids playing with their parents,

random birds and butterflies

and peace, so much peace

“Mom? Mom!” I heard a kid say,

I saw that he was pointing at me,

he must have been five years old or maybe less

“Mom, look at that man!”

“What is it with the man?” asked the mom

“His nose is all fucked up!” he replied

I stood up and walked away, wandered around the city

passing through bars with busted neon signs,

dead grey buildings with one graffiti scribbled over another,

prostitutes and deranged looking vagabonds,

then I stood in front of a parked car, and looked.

I took a good look at my reflection on the side window.

Yes, alright, my nose was fucked up.

Giovanni Mangiante, born on March 17th, 1996, is a bi-lingual writer from Lima, Peru. He has work published in Panoply, The Anti-Languorous Project, Dream Noir, Punk Noir Magazine, Minute Magazine, The Rye Whiskey Review, Eunoia Review, and has upcoming poems in Down in the Dirt and Open Minds Quarterly. In writing, he found a way to cope with Borderline Personality Disorder.