Frank Paino

ANIMAL SOLA

She stands before us, nude
but clothed in flame.

Her equanimity implies
a kind of beauty that burns

in its own vanishing. 
Or does she mean to say

it is the longing we chase after—
its own sweet fire?

Frank Paino was born in Cleveland, Ohio and earned an MFA from Vermont College. His third book, Obscura, was published by Orison Books in 2020. His first two volumes of poetry, The Rapture of Matter and Out of Eden, were published by Cleveland State University Press. Frank has received a Pushcart Prize, The Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature, and a 2016 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. His poems have appeared in a variety of literary publications, including: Crab Orchard Review, Catamaran, North American Review, World Literature Today, The Briar Cliff Review, Lake Effect and the anthologies, The Face of Poetry, Poets for Life and Beyond Earth’s Edge: The Poetry of Spaceflight. His website is: https://www.frankpaino.net