Burn it all down: big cities, small
towns. Fire trucks blaring a foghorn

rocking the moon. Minced leaves,
mannequins at Liberty Avenue

storefronts, prone to flame. I am
content to walk the ashes aimless

as the night, but to settle down,
forgetting the tinder of the world–

I lay for tenderness to cover
me, a soft blanket of smoke.

(originally published in Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine, Winter 2023)