(S)alt(ar) | Lucia Orellana-Damacela

Music by Mike Castillo

isolated by evaporating sun

       these piles don’t qualify as mountains

time-tested substance

       to quell the raw           a long-term taste

proclivity to refulgence

       takes care of the living

scorches my tongue           endures alone

       I sprinkle it on my body           nobody can make usufruct of it

all that radiance           spread on enemy field

       when I escape from myself

Lucia Orellana-Damacela’s publications include the poetry collection Sea of Rocks (Unsolicited Press, 2018), the chapbooks Longevity River (Plan B Press, 2019) and Life Lines (The Talbot-Heindl Experience, 2018), and poems in Tin House Online, Sharkpack Annual, and Always Crashing. She currently lives in Connecticut.

For over a decade, Mike Castillo has played with many bands in many historic and historically dingy venues, including the band Mourning Blues, which recorded three studio albums, countless live recordings, and was a finalist in the 2010 Battle of the Bands. From heavy metal to soul, reggae to punk rock, and blues to prog rock, Castillo’s music finds inspiration in many different genres and subjects.