photo_camera by Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
“Let anything that burns you come out.”—Lola Ridge
Dead leaves
dead ideas
dirty money
Whatever you have to burn,
burn to clear the path
through the thorns
and tangles.
Pour
gasoline
whisky
rage
March through the ashes,
carrying the burning flag
through the smoke
against the broken sky.
Gregory Luce is the author of Signs of Small Grace (Pudding House Publications), Drinking Weather (Finishing Line Press), Memory and Desire (Sweatshoppe Publications), Tile (Finishing Line), and Riffs & Improvisations (forthcoming from Kelsay Press). His poems have appeared in numerous print and online journals, and in several anthologies, including Written in Arlington (Paycock Press and This Is What America Looks Like. In 2014 he was awarded the Larry Neal Award for adult poetry by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Retired from the National Geographic Society, he lives in Arlington, VA, and works as a volunteer writing tutor/mentor for 826DC.