Ruskin said beautiful artcan only be produced by peoplewho have beautiful thingsabout them. He meant nearby.Glowing fruit stands. Radiantcans. Synonym-lessvegetables. Architect,build this store overand over. Cartoon eyesfill aisles a child’ssight-line. Cerealspace lowershelf-heights, brand animalsbait. Baby gorillas, pandas, talkingextinct birds. Walls paint lakescenes, fields golden, orchardsmultiply. Our streetof seven years’franchised mural: familypharmacy on the other corner, florist,liquor store, as if from overhead,beside, animated, caricatured, survivingour gummy bear drugs and roses.
Joshua Gottlieb-Miller is a doctoral candidate in poetry at the University of Houston, where he serves as the digital nonfiction editor for Gulf Coast.…