issue #1: musical golden shovels

Metamorphosis at Dawn

29 April 2026

Sleeping foetus-like and waking to another peach-pink flirty sun; the only word I rise to hear today isn’t for me; you pluck me like a wild rose

dried in a garden of radioactive weeds and stale water; still I smile, sprinkle stardust in your foolish eyes—dusty, idiot love - I’ve seen people leave before, and this feels like the end.

I should have seen it coming; you drink the wine of forgetfulness, toast to yourself, pour the last drop on the ground, then walk your road without me—I was yours once, and you were mine, but you became butterfly.

Notes

After Patrick Duff’s album Another Word for Rose and the song titles “Water,” “Foolish People,” “End of the Road,” “Once,” and “Butterfly.”

about the author

Karina Longo is a neurodiverse Brazilian-Italian poet based in Milan. Her poetry has been featured or is forthcoming in Expat Press, Eunoia Review, Be About It Press, Resurrection Mag, Some Words, Dodo Eraser, Michigan City Review of Books, Prosetrics, and other places. Find her on X.