Bonfire

This is the year strangers
will say terrible things

about you & those

you love you will be forbidden
to touch. No matter, you don’t get

to tilt the bottle back

until you become what is inside
& don’t expect

a parade. The bonfire

these strangers will make of your books—
small, at first, not

so many will join in, but

enough that for those
few nights

the sky will glow.