ISSUE: Fall 2023
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.