JULY 5
… and
still they punctuate
the night
with their leftovers,
the
distant pops, the star-
shattering
booms, spiders
and
jellyfish hanging,
dissolving
over lakes,
oceans,
countryside,
clusters
of aerial chatter,
the flight
of animals, wild,
domestic,
yelps and whines,
hugging
the ground, digging,
diving to
escape the god-
awful
whatever it is,
though see
how they glow,
the children’s eyes,
their upturned faces…
and now the
lull, the is-it-over-look-around…
one
bright, tiny fuse…someone’s Lady Finger….
Roger
Pfingston is the
recipient of a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and
two PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards. His most recent chapbook, What’s Given,
is available from Kattywompus Press. New poems are appearing this year in I-70
Review, U.S. 1 Worksheets, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Dash,
Passager and Front Range Review.