Ralph J. Long Jr.

Dermatology

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It doesn’t matter that you rode every subway line
or one Saturday you lost your last twenty dollars
to a carny at the Feast of San Gennaro and walked
home over the Brooklyn Bridge in cheap espadrilles
leaving you with blisters almost as bad as those after
a Hampton’s weekend trip where beer failed to provide
immunity to sunburn with even the soles of your feet
throbbing with pain equaling the dermatologist’s nitrous
oxide spray that you will experience four decades later
when peeling skin may or may not be a sign of healing
as you slowly realize most of your new acquaintances
are medical professionals and tradespeople whose fees
grow exponentially with each question and consultation.

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Ralph J. Long Jr. has authored two chapbooks, Polaroids at a Yard Sale (Main Street Rag Press, 2021) and A Democracy Divided (Poetry Box, 2018). His work has appeared in the anthologies: Ambrosia: A Conversation About Food and Simpsonistas: Volume 4, and Cloudbank, Common Ground Review, Peregrine, Stoneboat Literary Journal, The Scriblerus, Sisyphus, South 85 Journal, Ursa Minor, Zingara Poetry Review and elsewhere. He lives in Oakland California.