"Everything in Flames" by CL Bledsoe and Michael Gushue

Like lightning, something that flashes

but no one remembers where it struck—

that fucker will burn If you can find

the right match. I’m trying to tell you

that none of this is right. We were

supposed to be happy and safe, but you

wanted the cold, and now I can’t save you

when they come looking for you. I didn’t know

the world could be like this. The raft that was supposed

to save you capsizes. The fire that keeps you

from freezing leaps to the curtains, the furniture.

I have one log left. I’m saving it for

that perfect morning. Toast straining for freedom.

Eggs that remember our names. Let me rub

your feet one more time and maybe I’ll

be able to walk away. Instead of walking

back into the burning building.

Raised on a rice and catfish farm in eastern Arkansas, CL Bledsoe is the author of more than twenty books, including the poetry collections Riceland, Trashcans in Love, and his newest, Grief Bacon, as well as the Necro-Files novel series and the flash fiction collection Ray's Sea World. Bledsoe co-writes the humor blog How to Even, with Michael Gushue located here: https://medium.com/@howtoeven Bledsoe lives in northern Virginia with his daughter.

Michael Gushue is co-founder of the nanopress Poetry Mutual Press. His books are Pachinko Mouth, Conrad, Gathering Down Women, and—in collaboration with CL Bledsoe—I Never Promised You A Sea Monkey. He lives in Washington, D.C.