James B. Nicola’s poems have appeared in The Antioch Review, Southwest Review, Rattle, and Barrow Street. His full-length collections are Manhattan Plaza (2014), Stage to Page (2016), Wind in the Cave (2017), Out of Nothing: Poems of Art and Artists (2018), Quickening: Poems from Before and Beyond (2019), and Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense (2021). His nonfiction book Playing the Audience won a Choice award. His poetry has received a Dana Literary Award, two Willow Review awards, Storyteller‘s People’s Choice award, and eight Pushcart nominations—for which he feels both stunned and grateful.
Dog Day
The sweat-strewn skin on such a day
attracts a furry, friendly stray
that manages to lick and coat
you with its tongue-goo. (With your sweat,
now one.) And you would take it home
(the day, the dog, the goo, the heat),
adopt it as another pet,
but on the beach it turns to foam
and skulks away. You take a bath
to rise refreshed. And it seems right
that later, in the aftermath,
your cat purrs on your chest all night.
Clementine Unbound 
A nice, cheery poem about a dog *and *a cat. You’ve published Mr. Nicola before. From his bio, it sounds as though he’s doing well. I hope more stuff is coming in to the site.
On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 6:01 AM Clementine Unbound wrote:
> Clementine Unbound Poetry Journal posted: “James B. Nicola’s poems have > appeared in The Antioch Review, Southwest Review, Rattle, and Barrow > Street. His full-length collections are Manhattan Plaza (2014), Stage to > Page (2016), Wind in the Cave (2017), Out of Nothing: Poems of Art and > Artists (2018” >
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