July 12th, 2026
Evan Tungate
BEFORE EXILE
– After Francisco Goya’s “Fight with Cudgels”
Desolate: below the bluffs in a
deaf man’s house knee-deep
in oils; tidal flats; mud thick
& dark. Brush and cudgel swung
in blunt abandon. When stuck
lash out – savor the jarred wrist
the bruise the dragging-down
& put off – try – what comes:
a violation. Stripped before
the silent tide. What is left
but stout wood – the man
before you – a hope some
things remain to fight for.
Not you. If nothing else:
another swing.
Evan Tungate is a member of the Duluth Failed Poets Society and an editor of their first anthology, Murder Your Darlings. When he is not working as an engineer, he writes love poems about people, places, and things. His work has appeared in or is forthcoming from The Periwinkle Pelican, The Hyacinth Review, and elsewhere.
The Nemadji Review 