Burning
Photo by Karen Alsop on Unsplash
A Poem by Ollie Burgess
Smoke over
the lake, smoke
in the eyes, smoke
in the soul.
No one told
me how much the embers
craved, how much heavy
they could hold.
The last of my stuff
in a burlap bag,
crackling to ash,
auburn glow.
No one told
me the burning
was a blanket,
keeping out the cold.
Ollie is a piano teacher who lives in a small town west of Atlanta. If you cannot find her, follow the trail of books on the floor. There she will be, reading T.S. Eliot, Dostoevsky, or one of her latest obsessions: Plato. You can read her poetry on her Substack, olivet (olivetpoetry.substack.com).
