I remember my teachers 

would tell me 

I would amount to nothing 

if I didn’t change 

my attitude, 

that I needed commitment 

in order to succeed  

in life. 

I failed all the courses 

and ended up dropping out, 

but many years after, 

I found myself  

in front of a shitty laptop, 

playing Skyrim for the first time 

in the lowest possible 

resolution, 

trying to find 30 goddamn 

crimson ninroots 

inside of Blackreach 

as I soaked in my own sweat. 

My time to prove 

every single one of those fuckers 

wrong 

had arrived.



Giovanni Mangiante is a poet from Lima, Peru. He has work published in Anti-Heroin Chic, Horror Sleaze Trash, Heroin Love Songs, Rat’s Ass Review, Three Rooms Press, Fearsome Critters, The Raven Review, Cajun Mutt Press, Crêpe & Penn, Open Minds Quarterly, and more. He has upcoming work in Newington Blue Press. In writing, he found a way to cope with BPD.