maybe i just needed to clean up my jacket from the dirty soil
and rise from the ground like a kill bill character myself 
but he tripped in an oil puddle before the show
troublemaker engine handling us
in a gas station lunch break
‍
he got me a ticket for the garden
‍his ultimate favorite he claimed
picking up breadcrumbs from his jacket
eating up digesting thinking to myself
i’ve never claimed his hatred for sugar as well
‍
and there he was wiping off
pink watery ice cream
from my hair oh so passionately
‍many claim to have unfailing love but a faithful person who can find
‍proverbs 20:6-7
‍
words sharp carbs dry stirring up my insides like a machinery 
‍you’re cool and all but i can’t be with you he said 
strands of cowlicked hair
standing erect
sugary substance glueing my eyes onto him
people
strawberry cheek grimaces
melting
acclaiming the artists
‍
manhandling me away from the crowd
with greasy fingers
longing for more fast food love
this ice cream man

A Cabrera's poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in The New Guard, Brain,Child Magazine, Colere, Acentos Review, The Berkeley Fiction Review, Best Travelers' Tales 2021 Anthology, Mer, Deronda, and other journals. Her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Award and adapted for stage by the Bay Area Word for Word Theater Company. She writes, teaches, dances and ride bikes in San Francisco, but not always in that order.

Iuliana Ursachi is a 24-year-old with a Master’s degree in English and Romanian translation who now works in the corporate world, where she spends her days navigating through deadlines. In her free time, she writes as a way to maintain a grip on their creative side (and sanity). She has published for The Blood Pudding, StreetLit and a few Romanian websites so far. She hopes to publish more of her work in the near future, ideally somewhere far away from the workload.