Second Coming No. 90 — April 19, 2025
A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
José Sotolongo
Madeira
The man I roomed with—
let’s call him John,
teeth like white hatchets—
came in my dreams, then
said he was leaving to live
in Madeira, where the wine is
sweet like the government,
the one for us here
gone bad and then bitter,
debauched.
José Sotolongo is the author of the novel The Scented Chrysalis (Adelaide Books, 2019). His novel The Optimistic Cuban (Histria Fiction, 2025) is available now for pre-order. Sotolongo’s fiction and poetry have appeared in Atticus Review, The Cortland Review, The Southampton Review, Third Coast, Border Crossing, and other journals. Born in Cuba, he lives with his husband in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Indolent Books and editor Michael Broder are back with another poem-a-day series as a creative response to the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House. The plan is to continue for all 1460 days of the 47th American presidency.
Find out how to submit poems or flash prose pieces to Second Coming.
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