By Arden Falker
Burning effort like newspapers
to keep each other warm.
Unwinding two hearts
like a balloon slipping from our hands.
We were driftwood lost
among a sea of spelling words and budgeting.
Each confrontation was ember
to a tinderbox.
We were engulfed in conflict
thirsting for water to soothe the flame.
Consumed like gasoline ablaze
spreading aimlessly
devouring everything in its path.
Our touch was friction
like sandpaper on wood
craving a spark.
We became oxygen
to the flame
begging for ash
to quell the burn
of our stalemate.
Arden Falker is an emerging poet from Audubon, Minnesota who explores the fault lines where memory, place, and language collide. His work is forthcoming in The Chimes, The Unhoused Anthology (Prolific Pulse Press), RUNDELANIA and Strange Daze.
Academy of the Heart And Mind 