Frank Thomas Rosen

---

Central Train Station Leipzig, January 1st, 1989, 2 AM

Inspired by Maxim Gorki

As to find ourselves
Buffered
Barely lit
Delayed

Withdrawing
A working-class shiver

Your swollen tongue
Down my throat

Ancient Solyanka
A brand new year

My last drop
Of the Blue Strangler

Our glasses in very slow motion
And the sun to rise in the west

Note: The Blue Strangler was East German slang for a popular, state-subsidized vodka brand.

---

Frank Thomas Rosen grew up in East Germany and moved to the United States in 1997. He taught English at colleges in Ohio for ten years before becoming a nurse practitioner (FNP). His latest collection – auschwitz of the digital age and other poems (new cognitive poetry) – was published by Cherry Castle Publishing in 2019. Rosen’s poems have appeared in Ambit, Dongola, The American Journal of Poetry, Belt Magazine, The Skinny Poetry Journal and many regional and international anthologies. In his writing, Rosen addresses social injustice, cross-cultural struggle, and environmental challenges.