Jaclyn Youhana Garver is an author, poet, and journalist from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her poetry chapbook, The Men I Never:, was originally published by dancing girl press in Chicago. Her debut novel, Then, Again, was published by Lake Union Publishing in November 2024. She also co-edited the From Beyond Press anthology, Requiem for a Siren: Women Poets of the Pulps. She serves on the Midwest Writers Workshop board of directors. You can learn more at jyogarver.com.
                                           CINQUAIN FOR MAEDA, WHO FINALLY FOLLOWED HIS BLISS, WHICH WAS NOT
FOUND MANAGING A MOVIE PROP WAREHOUSE  

after Goodnight Tokyo, by Atsuhiro Yoshida

If you
make Japan’s best,
coldest whiskey coke, you
owe yourself—owe us all: Open
the bar.

CINQUAIN FOR MORIZUMA, WHO COLLECTS UNWANTED AND ‘UNWANTED’
TELEPHONES

Sometimes
we keep that land-
line, if only so our
someone can find us, finally
love us.

CINQUAIN FOR SHIRO, HOPELESS ROMANTIC COLLECTING KEYS TO PROVE
THOMAS WOLFE WRONG, TO GO HOME AGAIN

The thing
is, you can’t. Bull-
dozed buildings leave nothing
to haunt. Just hold your totem. Keep
it safe.

CINQUAIN ABOUT IBARAGI’S DREAM STORE AS THE CURE FOR MATELESSNESS.
NOT IN A CREEPY WAY, BUT HOPEFULLY

He waits
for someone he’ll
know at once, when he sells
her fate, her final stair to hap-
piness.WHAT DOES IT MEAN? A HAIKU SERIES

Redoubtable I bloom each time I / find a spar to push against / my push, fingers locked.

Cromulent Dear Zeus, I pray: May / every day be different than / before. Fuck boredom.

Zugzwang A backward step is / much preferred to parked and stilled / Greyhounds. Let’s go taste.

Agelast The world’s absurd, so / why not laugh at squirrels, jump scares, / my butt? Kiss it all.

Petrichor I coax the rain in- / side and share my hygge, books, / and sleep. You ready?

Acnestis Forgive me, friend, for / waking you to help a sis- / ter out. I can’t reach!
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