God Bless You Be Happy
It is the hour before
the world rises.
No brindled light
through the slat blinds,
no nervous energy
like suppressed laughter.
My wife
stirs in her sleep,
her hair like a lasso
on the pillow,
a slight quiver
to her lips.
The dog sits proudly
in the middle
of the rug
like what the fuck
I need to pee.
I put on clothes,
an old soccer sweatshirt,
legs so tight
I can barely bend down
to tie my shoes,
almost falling over
pulling up my pants.
How did this happen?
It’s perfectly LA today.
The scientologist
with hair like corn husks,
who we believe has turned
her husband into
a small white chihuahua,
is out walking him
this morning. Fallen
olives from a neighbor’s
tree litter the street
with ovular black eyes.
Someone has left
another loaf of bread
to compost on the sidewalk.
From around the corner
the woman appears
this morning as she does
each morning,
in her red plaid jacket
so like the field jacket
my mother used to wear,
copper stud buttons
and a crease to the collar,
hair in a bun at the back
of her head,
yelling without pause
or hesitation
GOD BLESS YOU
BE HAPPY
with her face pointed
at my face,
the words not stopping,
the words like scarves
pulled from the mouth
of a magician. Bent
forward, she gestures
towards me
in short furious circles.
Dead fronds like fish ribs
on the sidewalk. She
laughs once, then makes
a small wind like air
let out of a tire
as she passes.
Trying to tell my wife
this later, in bed,
her eyes fixed intently
on my face. Her eyes,
which are two different
colors, the left one green
like moss growing back
on the blue of a stone.
I forget what I’m saying.
It’s okay she says,
and leaves her hand
on my chest. Start again,
from the beginning.
JAMES CIANO holds an MFA from New York University. His debut collection The Committee of Men, is forthcoming from BOA Editions in 2026. Recent poems have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Bennington Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Bat City Review. His reviews and writings on poetry have appeared in The Adroit Journal, Poetry Northwest, and Los Angeles Review of Books. Originally from New York, he lives in Los Angeles, California where he is currently a Provost Fellow at the University of Southern California, pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature.