You'd be forgiven for thinking I title half my poems in Latin, given "Damnatio Memoriae" and now "Draco Urbis," which I have just sold to Julia Rios at Worlds of Possibility. I swear, it isn't true! Okay, yes, I do have two other unsold poems with Latin titles, but I've also got more than two dozen that aren't of that type.

Anyway, this one was a long time coming -- at least eighteen years, maybe more, since I don't remember when I first came up with the idea; that's just when I created the file that was my abortive attempt to write the concept as a short story before running aground on my lack of plot. And then I also wrote a version of this in a different poetic form, a tanka instead of the mirror cinquain version that's the one I've sold. But I'm very pleased with the result, and I'm looking forward to seeing it published!

(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/R7ryDL)