No, nothing ever classified as happy for a long time, no

nomenclature or taxonomy would

categorize it under functioning. We met

in haywire machinery and

surrendered our oily bolts to

make the other creak for

one more day.

To know someone with such mechanical unity,

seeing them go from scraps to bones — a Frankenstein or

Jungle Book story without

a resolution or grand lesson on the quality of

life: We just smiled when our

bodies rusted, saying one day we’ll

be human again, robotically stating

we made it past the junkyard and

hastily built ourselves like

Icarus did with the hot wax

a thousand yesterdays ago.

Eunice-Grace Domingo has a BA in Honors English and an MA in English Literature from the University of Saskatchewan. Her graduate research focuses on media studies, adaptation theory, and 20th century Japanese literature. Her poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction appear in numerous publications like The New York Literary Magazine, In Medias Res, The Taj Mahal Press, The Lamp, Dreamers Magazine, Making Waves: Pride, Moon Tide Press, New Voices, The Scarlet Review, The Vagabond's Verse, Chaotic Merge Magazine, and Modern Flash Fiction. She was born in Manila, Philippines and immigrated to Canada in 2007 with her family.