Photography © Karen A. Szklany

 

Smoke

cigarettes don’t taste
hurrying like the eye through keyhole leaning
Spring cancelled _again_ and my cat sleeps
                                                         on the forgotten engine
learning
the ways of the snail looming
on the horizon.

 

Julio Cesar Paz is a Cuban-born poet and educator, raised in a small city by the sea. He majored in education in 2011. He lives in Hanoi with his wife, son and his pet turtle Antigone, where he shares his love of poetry through regular workshops with his students. He finds joy and inspiration in taking slow motion walks with his pet after school. He has co-authored Lo que aprendí al otro lado del mundo with NuRican poet Carmen Bardeguez Brown. His most recent collection is Trinculo’s Handwritings.

Karen A. Szklany was born in New York and now lives in a New England co-housing community. She is the author of several collections of poetry, gardening books and Unitarian Universalist sermons. Karen also serves as a Life Healing and Transformation Coach on the labyrinth path.