Asphalt Gardens
by Louis Efron
like choreographed pixelated stills
capturing splashing raindrops
on pristine cotton-white daisy petals
we cut out
spray-painted dumpsters
our pimpled and pockmarked skin and
crooked teeth
desperately wanting to be seen
as someone else
through angled lenses, apps, and filters
pulling radiant light
from strained faces
into untouchable realities
​
framed on wafer-thin electronic mirrors
pumping flat cherry-red hearts
from unfamiliar crowds
slightly curl the corners of our mouths
heavenward
into soft smiles
for a world that only briefly loves us
trying to stand out
like wild daisies growing
in alleyway asphalt cracks
never safe
from being trampled
by those who
fail to see
our unaltered beauty
Louis Efron is a Pushcart-nominated and award-winning writer and poet who has been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, North Dakota Quarterly, Ginosko, Jasper’s Folly, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, A New Ulster, Flapper Press Poetry Café, PentaCat Press, Words and Whispers, Bourgeon, The Deronda Review, Young Ravens Literary Review, The Ravens Perch, POETiCA REViEW, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Literary Yard, New Reader Magazine and over 100 other national and global publications. He is also the author of five books, including The Unempty Spaces Between (winner of the 2023 NYC Big Book Award for poetry), How to Find a Job, Career and Life You Love; Purpose Meets Execution; Beyond the Ink; as well as the children’s book What Kind of Bee Can I Be?