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    • A Fire of Words
    • Editor's Note 2022 >
      • The Floor Wallows Lower
      • Cornflowers
      • Erudite
      • That One Morning
      • mom, im afraid
      • selenophilia
      • Roses and Rainbows
      • If a poisonous snake bites itself, will it die?
      • Rochester
      • Crown of Branches
      • Stairs to the Sea
      • A Poem Written Entirely From Advertisements
      • Pyromania
      • silhouette of a bird against winter stars
      • thunderstorm in the bedroom
      • A Night in Recovery
      • sleeping gypsie
      • paper dolls&goodbyes
      • We Are Women
      • Village Air
      • Sunshine's Laughter
      • the male gaze
      • The Forensic Entomologist
      • Lacking
      • Drowning
      • Adelie
    • Create the Wonders We Dream (2021)
    • Editor's Note >
      • Zove
      • I'm Sorry
      • Fake Smile
      • My Friend the Balloon
      • Eyes Intertwined
      • Perfect
      • Only a Moment
      • A Dangerous Word
      • My Dreams
      • The Last 100 Meters
      • The Green Void (Villanelle)
      • The Whimsical Galaxy (Sestina)
      • The Silent Kindness
      • Pressure
      • Table on the Hill
      • The Yukon
      • The Shore
      • Repentance
      • Her and I
      • Infections of the Soul
      • Threads
      • Dream of a High Schooler
      • Empty
      • little flame
      • scars
      • black and white
      • The Cat
      • Joy
      • Sweet Honey Bee Stings
      • If There Were One Day
      • Delete
      • Our Hearts to Central Vietnam
      • him or Him?
      • Ocean
      • Es Llaner Beach
      • Sewn Together
      • Rain
      • Yes, I Like
      • The Legacy of the Moon
      • The Wind Whimpers
      • From Here I See
      • To Feel Clean
      • Red
      • Survival
      • Substance
      • Golden Lies
      • Midnight Tango
      • Ode to a Spleen
      • Modern Siren
      • The Night's Diamond Tears
      • Beats In Double Time
      • A Day in the Flight
      • Carved By Venus
      • Lifeline
      • Everest
      • Education
      • How Much of Reality Can Be Observed
      • What is a Spork
      • What is the difference between love and in love
      • What would you have wanted? me to say
      • Planet Caravan
      • The Journey of a Minute
      • The Circus of Scars
      • Mosaic
      • Color
      • Love and Acceptance
    • Colors I Never Knew Existed (2020)
    • Her Voice Remains (2017)
    • Watch Every Second (2018)
    • Words Become Reality (2019)
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Pyromania
​​By: Luke Park

Picture
I. Love
 
The party is beginning.
Streamers adorn the ceilings,
Balloons sit in the corners,
Colored plates and cups lie patiently on iridescent table covers,
Gifts wrappers coat the ground like snow,
And all are covered in confetti,
Wreathed by ribbons.
 
II. Kids and Matches
 
The party has begun.
The smiles and squeals of children pour in,
Joyous sensation, like ecstasy.
The air is filled with the scent of cake,
Burning candles,
Wishes born from smoke.
Caretaker sleeps in the corner.
 
III. Conflagrations Excite
 
Fire is here.
In the kitchen there she waits,
Lurking predator.
Joy is blind.
Fire watches, allures.
Temptress.
Some feel fear.
Some feel warmth.
Kids see fire, and think,
I’m in love.
 
IV. Cleansed By Fire
 
How quickly love turns to terror
and back to love, when
this beast born ablaze
prowls up the walls
up the roof and swallows us whole and
engulfs everything in the room
in her embrace and
all we can do is cry, panic, pray
love, accept, realize.
tissues contract.
fat and muscles burn away.
the skeleton does not burn in a uniform way.
dehydration.
fracturing.
decomposition.
that is how fire feasts.
 
V. Post-Mortem
 
The party is over.
Burnt streamers adorn the ceilings,
Melted balloons sit in the corners,
Smoldering plates and cups have died on ashen table covers,
Gifts wrappers coat the ground like cinders,
And all are covered in soot,
Wreathed by fire.
 

Writer's Statement: Luke Park is a tenth grader attending The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. His poems have been published and accepted in the Teen Issue of Inlandia, Hot Dish Magazine, The Juniper Institute, The Bookends Review, The Showbear Family Circus, and The Healing Muse.
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