Ivan Peledov is a poet living in Colorado. He has been published in Unlikely Stories, Eunoia Review, Sonic Boom, Illuminations, and other magazines.

Problem

 Afternoons devour oranges and lemons.
 A red dog is riding a bicycle in the background.
 Nature can’t shape all the vices of a tree,
 shake all its voices off, invisible tongues
 licking the fiery colors of the sky.
 A true bird, they say, is a living 
 enraptured problem. 

Joy

The moon collects forged and forgotten dreams 
 and counts stolen wings and helicopters.
 Mornings destroy the contents of the air,
 all the invisible towers full of wind, 
 all the endless factories of the night
 where lost caterpillars can’t read monumental slogans.
 Robins have no advice for rabbits and prairie dogs,
 but plenty of joy. 

Away

Coins in the pocket whisper about oceans.
 It’s a foreign country if you haven’t noticed 
 and the angels look funny but talk the same 
 nonsense as usual. Stifling violin sounds
 destroy the lungs. Long live feathered rabbits,
 guinea pigs, lizards, serpents, and llamas.
 People sleep on the wing, you know.