The Innisfree Poetry Journal

www.innisfreepoetry.org

by Jean Free

House Fire

Frayed wires that vein behind veneer spit red,
and all the things that I abandoned burned.

The table where we screamed and buttered bread
and pounded fists is charred. Its tan legs turned

coal black, collapsed. Exploded glass shards blazed,
enameled saucers cracked, the nagging plea

the clock once ticked was smothered. Fire erased
the proof that you and I were ever we,

destroyed posed photos taken by the sea;
hot water roiled over you and me.