Two Poems by Giovanni Mangiante

 

puzzle me, puzzle you

 

a part of me

sometimes fits with another's

and theirs with mine

like jagged pieces of a puzzle

a toddler

has tried to put together

for too long.

 

and sometimes

they run away with that piece

that belonged to me

and I too run away with theirs,

and we go about our ways

taking pieces,

getting them taken from us,

and never for once

feeling whole.

 

the golden mean of pain

 

not too much to kill yourself.

not too little to make you want to go on.

 

enough to keep you dumbed down.

enough to keep you writing,

drinking, smoking,

or jumping in puddles of water

under the rain at 2:45 AM.

 

the golden mean of pain is just enough

to make you feel

as if you've lost your only fight,

and you're alone in the arena

watching the spectators leave.

Giovanni Mangiante is a bilingual poet from Lima, Peru. His work appears in dozens of journals such as Studi Irlandesi, Three Rooms Press, Silver Birch Press, As It Ought to Be, Shot Glass Journal, FEARLESS, Open Minds Quarterly, and more. He has upcoming poems in The Piker Press, Sledgehammer Lit, and is currently working on his first book of poems. He lives with his dog, Lucy. In writing, he found a way to cope with BPD.