By: Lee Herrick
Light a match. Watch the blue part
flare like a shocked piΓ±ata
from the beating
into the sky,
watch how fast thin
wood burns & turns toward the skin,
the olive-orange skin of your thumb
& let it burn, too.
Light a fire. Drown out the singing cats.
Let the drunken mariachis blaze their way,
streaking like crazed hyenas
over a brown hill, just underneath
a perfect birthday moon.
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With this poem I like how the author takes a subject like a birthday and makes it into something you don’t expect him to say. The author writes about the simple parts of a birthday, like watching a match burn, the mariachis, wood burning. When usually when someone talks about the good parts of a birthday are presents, or going out and doing a lot of activities, but this poet wants to relish in the small and simple things.
Sassy Succulents 