Independence Day 2020
It’s like a war zone out here, has been
for weeks. I sit outside in the heat
night has failed to cool,
reading by the light of a single bulb
about a people who surrendered their weapons
to live or die in peace.
A white flash ignites
my periphery. A BOOM recoils
off neighboring apartment buildings,
compresses my chest and eardrums.
Clouds of sulfuric smoke
drift over the roof.
With each incendiary report, I anticipate
the shattering of air. I breathe deeply,
but adrenaline continues to climb
the rungs of my ribs.
Meanwhile, fireflies,
two or three of them,
sail in the dark
beyond the balcony,
unalarmed, unhurried. They blink
too briefly for my eyes to locate them.
I only see where they’ve been.
I want to molt out of my skin, extend
another pair of arms,
unfurl voiceless wings,
breathe light into my bowels.
I want to leap over the railing
and join these creatures
in their silent singing,
their search for love.
–
Brian Wallace Baker holds an M.F.A. from Western Kentucky University. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Split Lip Magazine, River Teeth’s Beautiful Things column, Little Patuxent Review, and elsewhere.