Godzilla Doesn't Fight King Ghidorah

By David Ly

for Tegan and Aiden

The wind howls like a dragon
with three hungry heads
 
a crackle of golden veins
ignites the sky
each time he beats his wings
 
but bravery burns from within you
a steady blue flame
 
against this monster and storm
which will both eventually pass
while you remain an unwavering king

---

Demons

By David Ly

for Anton and his monsters

I want to know which of I want to know
which of my demons which of my
demons want to know which
of my demons want to know which
should run free should run free today
today which of my demons should I
want to know should run free today
which of my demons should run free
today which of my demons I want
to know which will run
and come back to me

---

I Want to Believe in Pink Himalayan

Salt Lamps

By David Ly

You said you wanted nothing
to do with me—okay, that’s fair
but here I am wondering how
to keep your dragon tree alive
 
once I read that a shady spot
with little water would suffice,
too much light browns the leaves,
but maybe somehow the pink glow
from my Himalayan salt lamp
 
was too much, every evening
for about two or three hours
it’s been on as a ritual for the negative
ions to cleanse the room’s energy
 
when it’s filled with the memory
of you saying witchcraft
then grabbing my ass
making me lose balance
and knocking over the lamp
 
onto the plant, snapping off
two of its leaves that landed
in the soil, still
decomposing in the pot
 
while the guilt of allowing myself
to give up on you never appears
to die no matter how long
I keep the salt lamp on

---

Photo by Erin Flegg Photography

David Ly is the author of the chapbook Stubble Burn (2018) and the poetry collection Mythical Man (2020). His poetry has also appeared in PRISM international, carte blanche, The Maynard, Pulp Literature, The /tƐmz/ Review, and others. David has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and he has been long- and short-listed for the Thomas Morton Memorial Prize in Literary Excellence and the Magpie Award for Poetry, respectively. He is the Poetry Editor of This Magazine, and he is part of the Editorial Collective of Anstruther Press. Twitter: @dlylyly.