Some unknown animal
howls in the night

huffing in
thick sulfur remnants of
freedom’s bursting glare
post picnic bonanzas
post red white and blue lager

it howls to a god it doesn’t imagine exists

in spite of itself;

I strain, looking
under streetlights,
see nothing but
drowsy suburbs,
pregnant with
 all these love affairs
about to fail.

MILENKO (MILES) BUDIMIR is the author of two chapbooks; Departures (Burning River) and Rustbelt Romance (deep cleveland). His poems have appeared in a variety of publications including most recently Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Great Lakes Review, Guide to Kulchur Quarterly and The Toledo Free Press. He works as a philosophy lecturer and technical writer and editor in the Cleveland area.