"dog," "promenade 1," "promenade 2," and "Butoh"
dog
the dog works herself
through the fence between two gardens
she is on the watch
promenade 1
a statue is watching people strolling
scattering the birds from his head
thinking of the man who locked him in stone
promenade 2
the bench is empty
its back board is cracked lengthwise
the statue sits beside
consoling
Butoh
slugs crawl on the nitrous wall of the basement
this is their days
their nights
their lives
their demise
Gabor G Gyukics (b. 1958) is a Hungarian-American poet, jazz poet, literary translator born in Budapest. He is the author of 11 books of original poetry, 6 in Hungarian, 2 in English, 1 in Arabic, 1 in Bulgarian, 1 in Czech and 16 books of translations including A Transparent Lion, selected poetry of Attila József and Swimming in the Ground: Contemporary Hungarian Poetry (in English, both with co-translator Michael Castro) and an anthology of North American Indigenous poets in Hungarian titled Medvefelhő a város felett. He writes his poems in English (which is his second language) and Hungarian. His latest book in English is a hermit has no plural (Singing Bone Press, 2015). His latest book in Hungarian was published by Lector Press in May 2018. Photo by Sándor Gyapjas.